Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand threatened to walk out of the BBC ’s World Cup coverage live on air after a ruthless joke from Pablo Zabaleta.
The pair were part of the punditry team alongside Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on Wednesday evening to go through the final throes of Group C in Qatar. Each of Argentina, Poland, Mexico and Saudi Arabia were still in with a chance of getting through to the next round, whilst all four teams were also under threat of being eliminated.
In the end, the group was concluded in dramatic circumstances with Argentina overcoming Poland but the Europeans still progressed on goal difference ahead of Mexico following a late Saudi Arabia goal. It was not that way originally with the tie-break between the two nations going down to Fair Play and Poland’s better disciplinary record.
In the aftermath of the dramatic scenes, Zabaleta and Ferdinand were discussing being involved in similar circumstances during their playing careers. Speaking on the BBC, the former Man Utd star said: “Those situations they're quite weird as a player.
“You don't really know what's going on. You're focused on the 90 minutes and you're asking around 'are we through?' or 'what's the score in the other game?'. You need people on the outside to be helping.”
Zabaleta then fired a savage joke towards his new colleague having reminded him of Manchester City ’s 2011/12 title when Sergio Aguero’s late goal infamously secured the crown - United being left clueless after their win against Sunderland. The former Argentina defender, he said: “Like in 2012…”
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Ferdinand then jokingly lashed out at the joke with a threat to walk out mid-broadcast having been involved when the Red Devils had the title brutally snatched out of their grasp by their near-neighbours. He said: “I weren't going to say.
“You know what, can you get me off air please? He's brought up the City stuff in 2012. Aguero's goal. Out of order. You've [Zabaleta] got to go now man.”
Host Lineker then joined in on the ridicule with his own iteration of Martin Tyler’s iconic commentary during City’s title-winning victory over Queens Park Rangers. “Aguuueeeerrroooo. That's a good point,” he said.
Ferdinand then got back to action as a pundit as they analysed Argentina’s win against Poland, whilst also glancing at Mexico’s victory over Saudi Arabia.
The results on Wednesday meant that Lionel Messi and his teammates finished top of Group C and will now meet Australia in the last-16. In the meantime, Poland are set to tackle reigning world champions France despite Didier Deschamps' men having lost their final group game to Tunisia.
