Shane Duffy says he will ignore the requests he’s received from Everton fans ahead of this weekend’s final Premier League fixture between Manchester City and Brighton.
Blues fans have been in touch with the defender to ask him to let City score, the Brighton man spent five years at Goodison before moving on, but he’s having none of it.
This is good news for Liverpool supporters as the former Everton player is aiming to get something from the game – if City are able to beat Brighton they will be crowned champions.
The league leaders will undoubtedly be nervous though. It’ll be in the back of their mind that if they don’t win then all the Reds will need is a victory at home to Wolves to snatch the title.
“All the players are excited to spoil the party. I’ve had a few Everton fans texting me, telling me to let them through but I’m professional. I’m not at Everton any more. I’m at Brighton and this is my club now,” he’s quoted as saying by the Guardian.
“We can’t really get sucked into what favours we do for some people and not for others. I’m sure Crystal Palace fans didn’t want their own team to win against Cardiff last weekend [and confirm Brighton’s survival in the process] but we’re footballers. We have a job to do.
“They have world-class players used to handling the pressure and, in truth, if anyone had offered them the chance to beat Brighton to win the league at the start of the season, they’d have taken it. But we want to beat one of the best teams in the world and do this club proud. That would give us a big buzz.”
It’s nice to know some people are capable of looking over a rivalry for the sake of their own club’s sake. Go on Shane, lad, score a header in the 90th minute for good measure.