Gary Neville has hit back at Cristian Romero’s remarks, responding to the comments the Argentine made after Argentina’s win over England
Gary Neville has fired back at Cristian Romero’s remarks, pointing out that the defender was part of a Tottenham side that narrowly avoided relegation last season after conceding 65 goals. Neville’s response comes after the Argentine branded the Manchester United icon ‘stupid’ for recently describing Romero and Lisandro Martinez as the ‘best worst centre‑halves in the world’ before England’s semi‑final against the World Cup holders.
Neville expected England to score twice past Argentina, explaining on The Overlap: “I don’t see how we won’t score at least two goals. Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez seem to give away a goal between them in every match. I call them the best-worst centre-back pairing in the world because at times they are absolutely extraordinary, and the next instant they go from the sublime to the ridiculous.”
Clearly, Romero had seen those comments, and after Argentina’s 2-1 comeback against the Three Lions, he hit back. “The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid. Hopefully I won’t criticise a player or anyone because at the end of the day, we are doing our best for our national team,” he told DSports.
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“Sometimes it goes right for us, sometimes badly, but we are just happy to be in a World Cup final again. I think we are making history, for us it is something really huge, and we feel the significance of this shirt like no-one else.”
Neville has now defended his initial comments, claiming Lionel Messi has saved him and his teammates at the World Cup. “Yeah, I said they give goals away and they’ve conceded six, by the way, in the knockout games, in four matches,” the pundit said on Sky Sports.
“If they didn’t have Lionel Messi up front… Those two should go and hug him every single minute of every single day because he’s had to pull them out of the mire. They conceded two against Egypt and two against Cape Verde, one against Switzerland and one against England so they’ve conceded six goals in the knockout phase.
“I did go on to say that they are incredible – and those were my exact words – and their force of nature of how they try and win their games, they go from the sublime to the ridiculous.
“Romero played in a team [Tottenham] last year that nearly went down and got relegated in the Premier League, conceding 65 goals, so I think I know what I’m talking about when I watch a player. He’s very talented, as is Lisandro Martinez, but they do make mistakes, lots of them, and they have conceded goals.
Neville continued: “But they are a force of nature, they have incredible personalities, they go and win every header in the attacking box and sometimes in the defensive box and I just see such a contradiction in games. He’s relatively young, Romero, he’s not an experienced defender yet.
“He’s won a World Cup and he’s got incredible achievements. But without Lionel Messi last night and without Lionel Messi in these last two tournaments…”
Romero has been tipped for a summer exit from Tottenham, despite only signing a new deal a year ago and being handed the captain’s armband in the process.
At the World Cup, England still have one match left, a third‑place play‑off against France, who lost 2-0 to Spain in their semi‑final. That game kicks off on Saturday, July 18 at 10pm.
Argentina, meanwhile, will aim to retain their World Cup crown when they face Spain in Sunday’s final at 8pm.
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