Anderlecht star’s tough man threat to Lucas Paqueta ahead of the clash with West Ham United is simply laughable.
West Ham tightened their grip on Europa Conference League Group B after making it a perfect three wins from three with a 1-0 victory over Anderlecht last Thursday night.
And the Hammers will effectively seal the group win and a place in the last 16 if they can beat the Belgians again this Thursday evening at the London Stadium.
One of the highlights of the game in Belgium was a moment of Brazil-liance from West Ham star Paqueta which ended up going viral.
A long cross-field pass was pinged out to West Ham’s Brazil star on the right touchline. And Paqueta sprang in the air before crossing his legs and controlling the pass dead with his heel on the opposite side.
UEFA even labelled the moment as ‘ridiculous’ when posting a video of it on social media.
One man who took exception to it, though, was Anderlecht star Amadou Diawara.
The midfielder has been speaking to the Belgian press ahead of the reverse fixture against the Hammers at the London Stadium.
And the Anderlecht star’s tough man threat to Lucas Paqueta ahead of West Ham clash is simply laughable.
Diawara says he could not allow Paqueta to get away with doing skills against him and had to ‘stamp it out’.
But he contradicts himself by also saying he plays football for the ‘entertainment’.
“I play above all for entertainment, even if it has become my job,” Diawara told La Dernière Heure.
“When I was little, my father forbade me to touch a ball. He wanted me to become a math teacher like him. I had facilities at school but I wanted to follow my dream.
“When I go through difficult times, I think about all that and my friends who are not lucky enough to be where I am. I can’t have come this far and given up. That’s the mentality I use on the pitch. I want to fight until the end.
“Last week against West Ham, when Paqueta showed a few skills as soon as he came into the pitch, I put a stamp on it. We can’t tolerate letting people play like this, especially at home. I wanted to show him that he was not at home.
“It’s with this mentality that we have to play. We have to become more aggressive. It will come but the team is young, it’s normal.”
But the former Roma and Napoli flop is totally missing the point.
Paqueta not only did the skills in Diawara’s own back yard, he also produced the match-winning moment when his brilliantly deft through ball put Gianluca Scamacca in to score the only goal of the game.
So what exactly did Diawara “stamp out” because he certainly didn’t shackle Paqueta or scare him off his game as he is trying to imply he did.
By fouling Paqueta a few moments after his audacious control, Diawara just made himself look silly if anything.
Paqueta does his talking on the pitch, maybe Diawara should try and do the same.
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