Ruthless Neville scolds Muslera and slams 'embarrassing' Gimenez
Gary Neville was in particularly ruthless mood during Uruguay's World Cup quarter-final defeat by France as he led the criticism of goalkeeper Fernando Muslera's costly blunder and slammed Jose Gimenez for crying before the full-time whistle.
'Despair for him. I feel for him, such a big stage to make such a big mistake.'
He later added: 'I actually don't think the ball moves. He moves outside the line of the ball and gets his hands sort of to the right of his body. It's just weird.'
Neville was also highly critical of Gimenez's premature tears that flowed with a few minutes of the match still to play.
'Is he crying? What's he crying for? What's up with him? Five minutes to go yet. I'm all for emotion and passion but that's embarrassing,' Neville claimed after Gimenez was filmed welling up while lining up in the Uruguay wall before a Griezmann free-kick.
'Your team have got five minutes, you can score two goals. Get on with it.'
Les Bleus led 1-0 in Nizhny Novgorod courtesy of Raphael Varane's first-half header and doubled their advantage shortly past the hour mark when Muslera got his positioning hopelessly wrong and allowed Antoine Griezmann's 25-yard strike to squirm off his hands and into the back of the net.
It was arguably the worst goalkeeping error of the tournament so far and Neville did not hold back in his role alongside Sam Matterface as co-commentator on ITV.
However, he did also express some sympathy for the 32-year-old Galatasaray star, a vastly experienced member of Oscar Tabarez's Uruguay squad with more than 100 international caps to his name.
'He's too embarrassed to celebrate, Griezmann... how do you describe it? Trying to do one of those stupid parries, just catch the damn thing. Honestly,' Neville said.
'Oh it's moving – it's a football, not a firebomb. If that was in training, he'd just soft hands into his chest. Honestly. I have no words. Well I have, I just used them.
'Despair for him. I feel for him, such a big stage to make such a big mistake.'
He later added: 'I actually don't think the ball moves. He moves outside the line of the ball and gets his hands sort of to the right of his body. It's just weird.'
Neville was also highly critical of Gimenez's premature tears that flowed with a few minutes of the match still to play.
'Is he crying? What's he crying for? What's up with him? Five minutes to go yet. I'm all for emotion and passion but that's embarrassing,' Neville claimed after Gimenez was filmed welling up while lining up in the Uruguay wall before a Griezmann free-kick.
'Your team have got five minutes, you can score two goals. Get on with it.'
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