Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez has revealed how he threatened to beat Cristian Romero during the World Cup final.
In the first half of the final match against France, the Tottenham defender flew into Mbappe with a horror tackle.
Argentina came out victorious in what was a thrilling 6 goal encounter. The game finished 3-3 and Lionel Messi’s Argentina ended up winning on penalties to claim the World Cup.
But Martinez reveals he had to threaten Romero to stop with his reckless challenges in order to save him from being sent off.
He told ESPN:
“I know Cuti’s (Romero) weakness, I remember in the final against France he went with both feet against Mbappe. He grabbed the ball, everything.
And at half-time I grabbed him by the shirt and told him, ‘If you get kicked out, I’ll beat the sh*t out of you after the game’.
“I have to tell Cuti ‘Please, stop hitting’. Cuti plays like that, on the edge of a red card, and I’m always catching him in that sense. But he’s impressive.”
It is Romero’s aggressive nature that perhaps brings the best out of him but it can be quite dangerous sometimes.
He recently served a three game ban for a rash tackle on Chelsea’s Enzo during their 4-1 defeat.
And he could have been easily sent off against Newcastle as well for another wild challenge but luckily escaped punishment.
It’s a part of his game that he needs to control or else he can become a big liability for Spurs, specially at a time when they are severely suffering from an injury crisis.
They are now without a senior centre-back, with both Micky van de Ven and Eric Dier out injured.
Ben Davies has done extremely well coming in as a makeshift center-back but Spurs desperately need to address this situation in the January transfer window.
