Dimitri Payet has broken his silence on the controversial Cristiano Ronaldo tackle in the finals of the European Championship in France.
The West Ham midfielder collided with Ronaldo at Stade de France on Sunday, and the Portugal captain had come off injured after just 25 minutes after twice trying to carry on.
A tearful Ronaldo was finally carried off the pitch on a stretcher. Payet was on the receiving end as some fans who blamed him and France at large for plotting to injure Ronaldo in effort to lift the European trophy.
Speaking after the Euro 2016 final which Portgual won 1-0 Payet said:
“No, it was a challenge, that’s all, period,” Payet told reporters after the match. “I regained the possession and if I hurt him it was not intentional.”
“It’s not in my nature to be a bad guy on the pitch. There is no question about it.”
Reflecting on the loss Payet added: “We’re disappointed, we were under the impression we were the ones with the possession and the better chances but we missed that goal that could unblock the situation.
“On the very few chances they got, they were able to score.A goal decided all. A goal that we couldn’t score ourselves. The Portuguese side were more efficient.
“I think that if we could have scored we could have forced them to play more offensively and we could have counter-attacked. At the end that goal is cruel.We didn’t score for a lot of reasons.
“We were able to score two goals against Germany while they got the possession. It is kind of the same game but the other way around.”
There was nothing wrong at all with the tackle, in fact he won the ball. Unlucky for CR that he got inured, but that is life. **** happens.
Payet did nothing wrong, sad however that wont stop some idiots and trolls from abusing him.
Intentional foul? Yeah… Dimi knocked his knee against Ronaldo’s… I’m sure Payet is self-destructive and he was trying to break his leg… if the situation was reversed, no one would’ve batted an eyelid. 😉
What a crock Ronald’s mum obviously knows nothing about football rules, he won the ball never showed his studs and they collided afterwards,
Trouble with these so called super stars they want wrapping in cotton wool,
Should not even be talked about ever again and as for the total idiots that are trolling Payet they need to grow up,
Wonder what his mum would have thought if she saw the takle he had against him last year by the animal from Liverpool,
She would have wanted him arrested for attempting murder
Don’t see what the problem is , Ffs payet never got injured , who gives a toss about the winker from planet vein ?
About time he got his comeuppance , and it took a tame tackle to do it ! That’s football folks you just do not know when you’re card is marked,
Except for carol that is ?
The wicked side of me laughed from deep within , but not as deep as pogba ,I thought he was playing on the deck of the titanic !
ALL those who think Payet deliberately tried to injure the ‘Winker’ are really telling the world “I know nothing about football, and Payet, and I am a stupid bigot”.
Perfectly reasonable tackle that simply had an unfortunate outcome. Happens all the time.
Payet and the rest of us can ignore such effing stupid pr@ts, and even better, not give them airtime!
Send all those trolls to have a go at real villains like McCarthy and Barclay of Everton! We are all going to BOO them when Everton come to the OS, aren’t we lads?