Gary Lineker has hit back at Patrice Evra over the former Manchester United star’s extraordinary attack on Pep Guardiola.
The former defender hit out at the Manchester City boss, having taken great delight in the Blues’ exit from the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid last week. After posting a joke on Instagram at City’s expense, Evra followed it up with some controversial comments while working as a pundit on Amazon Prime.
The former France international slammed Guardiola for wanting control of his side and argued it had resulted in City being left with a lack of leaders on the pitch. "Manchester City needs leaders, but Guardiola doesn't want leaders,' the Frenchman said in comments relayed by Marca.
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"He doesn't want personality. He's the leader. That's why when they're in trouble they don't want to. They don't have anyone on the pitch to help them.
"He chooses his teams like that, he can't train people with personality. He did it at Barcelona, but he builds his team to control everyone. When things go wrong, he always decides.
"City have made a mistake, it's the truth. They are traumatised. They remind me of PSG: they are clubs based on money."
Evra’s comments though have seen him cause a backlash among some of his fellow ex-professionals, including Lineker. The Match of the Day host has regularly praised Guardiola over the years, and didn’t hold back in his defence of the City boss.
Quoting Evra’s comments on Twitter, Lineker branded the former United man’s opinion as “utter nonsense”. The former striker doubled down on his comment when a reply agreed with Evra by saying “spot on. Ask Ibra”, with Lineker responding: “Ask Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Puyol, De Bruyne, Muller, Pique, Lahm…”
Despite Evra’s criticism, City could well be on course for another Premier League title, and have completed a huge coup ahead of next season with the signing of Erling Haaland. The club confirmed the transfer, with the Borussia Dortmund striker set to complete his move to the Etihad in the summer.
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