Manchester United striker Robin van Persie is having a hard time letting go of his teams loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
According to different sources Van Persie is said to have spoken to Dutch website Ad.nl while training with the national team ahead of World Cup qualifying and aired some major grievances.
In his blistering attack on UEFA and the referee, Cuneyt Cakir, involved in the controversial 2nd leg that saw a game changing red card for Nani, the United striker said ‘That red card was heavily unjustified. It was not even a yellow card or a free-kick. Nani couldn’t do anything about it, he hardly touched Arbeloa. The worst thing is that UEFA supports him. That’s cowardly.’
It is not yet known how UEFA will respond to this however a large fine is almost certain, while a match ban is not out of the question.
The United striker also questioned why Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir was selected to begin with. He said: ‘I didn’t understand before the match that this man would be the referee, an unknown referee who hasn’t been in charge of a big game for months. He added ‘Even the guys from Madrid told me afterwards that it was not a red card. Real were not dangerous at all. I’m sure we would have kept our position.’
It’s hard not to feel sorry for RVP in the UCL as officials have all but ruined the competition for him in the past couple of seasons. It is still impossible to forget the red card issued by Swiss referee Massimo Busacca at the Camp Nou in 2011 against Barcelona.