By Chris Wright
Not that he can do much right at the best of times anyway, but Angel Di Maria has once again angered the more sensitive section of the Real Madrid support by ‘grabbing his crotch’ after being hauled off for Gareth Bale during the club’s 3-0 victory over Celta Vigo last night.
Di Maria had struggled to make an impact as Real Madrid toiled away toothlessly for the first hour of the game, and was subjected to a light jeering as he made his way off the pitch – though we must admit that the offending ‘crotch grab’ looks entirely innocuous to us, nothing more than a quick strategic rummage.
Indeed, Di Maria felt compelled to come out and defend himself after being accused of inflammatory behaviour, telling reporters after the final whistle:
“It was nothing towards anyone. I was adjusting myself and I kept running. If I was angry I would not have shook hands with anyone.
“I left the pitch totally naturally. People are always waiting for me to do something.
“With everyone else there is no problem, but with me all hell is raised up.
“My family were in the stadium and I am not going to make that gesture with them there.”
Anyway, two minutes after Di Maria departed, Real Madrid finally made the breakthrough – Bale feeding Karim Benzema to open the scoring, before Cristiano Ronaldo added his 399th and 40oth career goals to flesh out the 3-0 win.
Ronaldo then dedicated his brace to Eusebio after the game, saying:
“I dedicate these two goals to you Eusebio but in fact you were the one who scored them. You’ll always be in my heart.”
Well, if Eusebio scored those goals then you’re back down to 398 young man.