Is this guy for real…?
Manchester United’s Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini has claimed his recent elbows on Liverpool players were an accident, despite television evidence showing the opposite.
During the two legs of our Europa League victory, Fellaini clattered Dejan Lovren and wasn’t punished, and also planted an obvious elbow on Emre Can, while knocking Roberto Firmino as well.
So much so, Howard Webb described him a ‘thug’ in the BT studio and he was right to do so.
Fellaini though doesn’t remember the Lovren or Can elbows, and instead chose to protest his innocence regarding the Firmino clash.
“The last few games, they talk about elbows but I don’t do it purpose,” Fellaini told the Telegraph. “I look at the ball, not my opponent. I don’t want to elbow someone, there is no point. I just protect myself. Sometimes I have two or three players around me, grabbing me.
“I jumped against Liverpool with Firmino and he said I give him an elbow. Why would I give an elbow to him? I know I will win the ball because of my size. Against Andy Carroll it would be more difficult, but I don’t need to elbow Firmino.
“There seems to be a fixation on me now,” Fellaini continued. “Why should I change my game if I don’t even get a yellow card? I go home and I say to my brother or someone ‘why didn’t he book me then?’ Because they know and people don’t talk about players grabbing me or trying to stop me. Why?”
Ridiculously, UEFA didn’t choose to take disciplinary action against Fellaini, either at the time or afterwards. As a result, Fellaini’s eligible for selection the next time United play in Europe, but that’ll likely be a Europa League qualifier at the start of next term after we dumped them out of this year’s competition.