Following his late clumsy tackle on Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, Atletico Madrid’s red-carded defender Tomas Ujfalusi has come out to apologize to his victim.
The Argentine attacking midfielder helped Barcelona to a 2-1 victory at the Vicente Calderon last Sunday, but his party was spoiled by a challenge he suffered from the 32-year-old Czech who eventually received his marching orders. As a result, Lionel Messi is set to miss at least two weeks of action – meaning that he will not take part in Barcelona’s next three matches.
Those include a home match against Sporting Gijon and two away fixtures against Athletic Bilbao, and Rubin in the Champions League.Fervent Lionel Messi fans have strongly condemned Tomas Ujfalusi for his poor defending, with some hoping he could be banned for life.
But the Atletico Madrid defender has tried to cool down the tension with an apology.
“I want to apologize. It wasn’t my intention to hurt Messi,” Ujfalusi explained.
“I wanted to play the ball, and I was unfortunate to hit Lionel when I came down on his leg.
“Of course, it was scary to see his ankle bent, but it wasn’t my intention to hurt. Yesterday, it was not possible [for me to apologize]. But, today, I’ve sent a message to Aguero on my behalf.
“Looking at the picture, it’s clear that I’m touching the ball before injuring his ankle. I think some tackles were harder than mine.”
Tomas Ujfalusi may disagree about the extent of his punishment, but Barcelona’s David Villa is categorically against the kind of tackle which has left his team mate Lionel Messi injured. Speaking to AS, the Spaniard declared:
“There’s a committee that decides. When they see the pictures, there’s no doubt Ujfalusi will receive the punishment he deserves. The challenge is brutal, and he shouldn’t be proud of it.
“The punishment must set an example that will let other players think twice before doing something similar.”
In the meantime, Barcelona will hope that reports from the medical team which claim that Lionel Messi could return to action in ten days are indeed true.
Those include a home match against Sporting Gijon and two away fixtures against Athletic Bilbao, and Rubin in the Champions League.Fervent Lionel Messi fans have strongly condemned Tomas Ujfalusi for his poor defending, with some hoping he could be banned for life.
But the Atletico Madrid defender has tried to cool down the tension with an apology.
“I want to apologize. It wasn’t my intention to hurt Messi,” Ujfalusi explained.
“I wanted to play the ball, and I was unfortunate to hit Lionel when I came down on his leg.
“Of course, it was scary to see his ankle bent, but it wasn’t my intention to hurt. Yesterday, it was not possible [for me to apologize]. But, today, I’ve sent a message to Aguero on my behalf.
“Looking at the picture, it’s clear that I’m touching the ball before injuring his ankle. I think some tackles were harder than mine.”
Tomas Ujfalusi may disagree about the extent of his punishment, but Barcelona’s David Villa is categorically against the kind of tackle which has left his team mate Lionel Messi injured. Speaking to AS, the Spaniard declared:
“There’s a committee that decides. When they see the pictures, there’s no doubt Ujfalusi will receive the punishment he deserves. The challenge is brutal, and he shouldn’t be proud of it.
“The punishment must set an example that will let other players think twice before doing something similar.”
In the meantime, Barcelona will hope that reports from the medical team which claim that Lionel Messi could return to action in ten days are indeed true.
