Inter Milan star tells PSG fan 'I'll beat the s*** out of you' after UCL jibe
Francesco Acerbi threatened to 'beat the s***' out of a Paris Saint-Germain fan who goaded the Inter Milan star about the teams' Champions League final clash. Acerbi's Inter were hammered 5-0 by PSG in Munich on June 1 and now both teams are competing at the Club World Cup in the United States.
During the closing stages of the one-sided final, 37-year-old Acerbi was embarrassed by PSG forward Bradley Barcola, whose fancy footwork left the Italian defender dazzled. The moment was widely shared on social media and one fan in Seattle took his torment a step further.
During a meet-and-greet event, the fan - who was wearing a PSG shirt - reminded Acerbi of the humiliating moment. The ex-Lazio defender sought the help of a translator, who sternly told the fan in English: "You must be serious with him."
Just a few seconds later, Acerbi made his feelings clear. Fuming in Italian, he said: "I'm serious. Don't make fun of me - I don't like it. I'm crazy, I'll beat the s*** out of you."
Acerbi quickly moved on, posing for photos with more respecting fans. It's not the first time the veteran centre-back has been embroiled in controversy this month.
Despite Italy playing two crucial World Cup qualifiers earlier this month, Acerbi turned down a call-up for his national team. He accused manager Luciano Spalletti, who's since been sacked, of disrespecting him.
Acerbi posted on social media: "It's not a decision I have taken lightly. However, I believe that in light of recent events the conditions aren't there today for me to go forward with serenity.
"I demand respect. If that respect is lacking from those who should lead the group, I prefer to step aside. I won't stay where I'm no longer truly wanted and it's clear I'm not part of the coach's project."
Acerbi's focus shifted to helping Inter against Japanese side Urawa Reds in their second match of the Club World Cup on Saturday. He'll also be looking to impress new manager Cristian Chivu.
Ex-Inter defender Chivu has taken over from Simone Inzaghi, who left San Siro for the riches of Saudi Arabian heavyweights Al-Hilal shortly after the Champions League final. Former team-mate Javier Zanetti, who's now the vice-president of Inter, commented: "The Champions League final marked the end of a chapter, and now a new one begins.
"That's football - constant perseverance, belief in hard work and a project. And we're on that path now. We have great confidence in what Cristian Chivu can bring. I know him personally - we were team-mates - and I can say he's a wonderful person. We know he'll do a great job here. This Club World Cup is a great test for all of us."
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
25 minutes ago
- The Independent
Alice Pumphrey will cheer on Lionesses with no regrets over switch to boxing
Alice Pumphrey will sit down to watch the Lionesses' latest bid for glory on Sunday without a flicker of regret that she turned her back on a promising football career to target success of a different kind in the Olympic boxing ring. The Blackpool 19-year-old, who has been named in the 16-strong Great Britain squad for September's World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, was scouted by Manchester United at the age of 11 and signed an academy contract with every intention of making it to the top of the sport. But Pumphrey became hooked after heading to her local boxing gym for the first time to improve her fitness, and almost immediately made the tough decision to rip up her deal with the Red Devils and devote herself full-time to her new obsession. 'I'd been playing football almost every day since the age of four, and I was scouted when I was 11 and playing with a boys' team in Fleetwood,' Pumphrey told the PA news agency. 'I went for a trial with United and they said they were going to give me a contract. That meant I could only play for United, so on the days I couldn't play I got bored and went to the gym for extra fitness. 'After a week I told my dad I wanted to box. He told me to see the season out with United and they tried to convince me to stay. But by then I knew what I wanted to do.' Pumphrey's decision has proved a wise one. A slew of English, British and European junior titles followed, culminating in a world under-19 title in Colorado towards the end of last year, and a full-time place on the GB Boxing squad. She is bullish about her future prospects – having targeted Olympic gold in Los Angeles, followed by turning professional and winning undisputed titles at four different weights – and will stop at nothing to achieve it, uprooting from the west coast to relocate to Batley where she trains in the Purge gym. Pumphrey, once a fleet-footed left winger, is the same age as Lionesses saviour Michelle Agyemang, who will aim to summon more heroics when England face Spain in the European Championship on Sunday. But while she will be an avid viewer, the light-flyweight will not once stop to wonder what might have been had she decided not to follow her heart through those gym doors seven years ago. 'I've never regretted it,' she added. 'In football you've got 10 other people and subs who you have to rely on to win a game, but in the boxing ring it's down to you to perform. 'I don't like having to depend on other people. In that ring it's you and the person who is trying to take your head off, and that's what I love.'
The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Marcus Rashford must stave off sense of anticlimax after Barcelona switch
If Anthony Martial hadn't been injured in the warm-up, and Manchester United hadn't already been missing 12 players, Marcus Rashford wouldn't have played. It hadn't seemed a particularly significant game: the second leg of a round-of-32 Europa League tie against Midtjylland on a chilly and cloudy February night. Old Trafford was far from full, the disillusionment that was beginning to stalk Louis van Gaal escalating after a 2-1 first-leg defeat. It soon got worse for United as Pione Sisto increased Midtjylland's advantage. An own goal pulled one back but, before half-time, Juan Mata missed a penalty. But Rashford then slammed in a Mata cutback and converted a Guillermo Varela cross with a side-foot volley to give United the lead. They ended up winning 5-1. In the space of 12 second-half minutes, Rashford had been elevated from almost complete unknown to potential messiah, a status he confirmed three days later by scoring two and setting up another in a win over Arsenal. He was 18, Manchester-born, confident but understated. It was almost too perfect. What then would have seemed a plausible future? What would he have taken had fate offered? One hundred goals for United? Two hundred? A Champions League? Given that was before Gareth Southgate had become England manager, perhaps dreams of winning a major tournament with England would have seemed far-fetched, but 20 goals for his country? Thirty? Yet here we are 10 years on, with Rashford unwanted at Old Trafford and joining Barcelona on loan. He has scored 87 league goals for United and picked up two FA Cups, two League Cups and a Europa League. And while he was part of the side that was second at Euro 2020, the achievement is inevitably tainted by the fact that he hit the post with his penalty in the shootout; three inches to the right, it would have been a goal and England would have led the shootout 3-2 with the pressure firmly on Italy. It's a perfectly decent career, but there is an unavoidable sense of anticlimax, particularly over the past couple of seasons. Having scored 30 goals in all competitions for United in 2022-23, when he also got three in the World Cup, Rashford has scored just 19 over the past two years, four of them on loan at Aston Villa. He has often looked disaffected, the headlines about his off-field activities switching from his campaign for free meals for children to ill-judged socialising. Rashford is still only 27, at his notional peak – albeit that players who start early often reach their peaks early (and those who believe in the rule of 500 may note that Rashford reached his 500th career appearance in Villa's 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest at the beginning of April). He did enough for Villa to make it at least plausible that his problems are essentially those of Manchester United and that a reset may yet allow him to reach the heights that seemed plausible a decade ago. There has been little evidence of the sort of physical decline, the loss of acceleration Raheem Sterling has apparently suffered. Yet Villa clearly didn't see enough in his 10 league appearances for them to exercise their £40m option to buy; even given how close they are pushing the PSR threshold, it's hard to avoid at least a slight sense of Rashford failing upwards, rejection from Villa leading to an offer from Barcelona. That's assuming Barça are able to find another lever to pull so they can register him. He joins the goalkeeper Joan García in the queue of players Barcelona have signed but have not yet been able to register because of La Liga's financial regulations. It's not an uncommon problem at the club and they've always found a way. It took the controversial sale of rights to VIP seats for the next 25 years to a Qatari company for Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor to be registered last season. There is less and less future income to sell off. Rashford has agreed to a minimum 15% cut in his £325,000-a-week wages (potentially 25% including bonuses), but that still represents a significant sum even with Barça returning to the refurbished Camp Nou soon. Complicated as Barcelona's finances are, though, this could, if the issue is essentially clearing his head, be the perfect place for Rashford to recover his form. He's away from the constant scrutiny of England, which was only heightened as he became a culture-war pawn. The pace and intensity of La Liga are not that of the Premier League. Barcelona play extremely attacking football, scoring 102 league goals last season; Rashford will get opportunities. Raphinha, who spent much of last season swooping in from the left, scored 18 goals. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Which does perhaps raise the issue of why Barcelona want Rashford. Theirs is not a squad short of attacking players: Dani Olmo, Ferran Torres, Víctor, Pablo Torre, Fermín López, Gavi and Ansu Fati started league games on the left last season, sometimes with Raphinha operating centrally. Fati has been loaned to Monaco and Torre has been sold to Mallorca, yet Barça still targeted a left-sided player this season, and considered Nico Williams and Luis Díaz before settling on Rashford as a (relatively) cut-price option seemingly undeterred by potential registration problems. Although there is a £26m option to buy, there is no obligation. If it works out, Barcelona get a quick and direct finisher and enhanced squad depth; if not, they can part ways at the end of the season, with nothing lost but a year of wages. For Rashford, meanwhile, there is real pressure. If this doesn't work, what is the future for him? Potential can be a terrible curse. It doesn't matter how good a young Premier League player looks, he is only ever a couple of disappointing seasons from being linked with the Turkish Super Lig or West Ham. When you promise as much as Rashford did in those few days in February 2016, even a very good career can end up suffering the taint of disappointment, however unfair that may be. For Rashford's career and his legacy, these next few months are vital.
BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
How will Rangers approach second leg?
Joe Rothwell insists Rangers will head to Athens with a front-foot approach and "won't be looking to defend" their former Bournemouth midfielder made his debut in the 2-0 first-leg win in the Champions League qualifier on Tuesday night as the Russell Martin era began with struggled for long spells before 18-year-old Findlay Curtis and debutant Djeidi Gassama struck fine second-half goals after side of Greek defender Giorgos Vagiannidis' red Ibrox side host Middlesbrough in a friendly on Saturday before the second leg against Panathinaikos in the Greek capital on Wednesday."I think we have to now [feel in command of the tie]" Rothwell, 30, said. "Obviously, 2-0, it's a good scoreline, especially in this format."So we'll go out there and obviously we won't be looking to defend it. We'll try and go out there and win the game and score as many goals as we can."It [2-0 win] can be huge. I think he [Martin] said in his press conference, it was not going to be a season-defining game but we wanted to go out there and put a show on and really show how he wants to do things."I think we managed to do that, controlled the game as we like to do and just a bit disappointed that we didn't go and probably kill the game off a little bit more."Rangers should have been behind before Curtis' 52nd-minute opener, with Martin having to settle his new team down at the interval to spark an improved performance."He said to just stick to what we do," Rothwell added. "We went away from it a little bit, in terms of how we want to play."And then obviously with them going down to 10 men, we've managed to control the game and probably disappointed we didn't probably get a few more in the end."Rothwell "loved" his first experience of a European night at Ibrox."Obviously you hear stories from the outside, but when you actually get out there and experience it, it's fantastic and I'm sure the fans are going to be behind us in every single game and we'll need them."
