Barcelona stars Ferran Torres and Jordi Alba have been criticised for their sledging of Espanyol defender Oscar Gil in Sunday night’s Barcelona derby.
The match ended 4-2 with Barcelona securing the La Liga title and Espanyol edging even closer to relegation. Gil struggled to keep up with his opposite number in the match, Alejandro Balde, who caused him constant issues and ended up scoring and assisting.
Footage from Movistar+ has shown Alba and Torres laughing at Gil, and making fun of him from the bench. “Good Morning, Good Morning Oscar, Oscarrrr, they are dead, Oscar you are done, eh, [they have an] inferiority complex, Oscar, what a year eh?, Oscar go on the outside,” are the phrases they were caught shouting at the defender. Marcos Alonso and Eric Garcia can be seen chuckling along to their ‘jokes’.
Me pregunto cómo debe sentirse Ferran Torres al verse y si alguien cercano se atreverá a ponerle en su sitio. Por su bien, vaya. pic.twitter.com/URAePlhRKa
— Javier Alfaro (@JavierAlfaroFC) May 16, 2023
Some took this very poorly, with Marca pointing out that the clip was referenced on RAC1, and the pair were criticised for not knowing how to win.
Equally, in the world of abusing opponents on the pitch, this can be seen as relatively light teasing compared to some of the back and forth that goes on. Each person will have their own take on whether it is in bad taste, but Gil is unlikely to lose too much sleep over the matter.
