John Obi Mikel says Olivier Giroud should have seen red for elbowing him during Nigeria's 2-0 defeat to France in their second round World Cup clash.
The Chelsea midfielder claimed referee Mark Geiger saw Giroud strike him in a tangle around the half hour mark, but opted against showing the Arsenal man a card before France battled to victory with two late goals to secure a place in the quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old criticised the referee for his failure to act on the apparent infringement.
"Yes I got an elbow and the referee saw it and he only gave him a warning, not even a yellow card, nothing," Mikel told Mirror Sport. "It was bad.
"We know the game - if you see it, act on it. The ref saw it. He did catch me, I don’t know if it was too hard but the intention was definitely there.
"I don't think Giroud is a dirty player, I have played against him several times before and everyone wants to win for his country. He hasn't done those sort of things before so maybe it was just one of those things in the heat of the moment."
It was an even more painful match for Mikel's midfield colleague Ogenyi Onazi, who left on a stretcher during the second half following a challenge with Blaise Matuidi.
Mikel reported a suspected broken ankle for Onazi and, although he refused to criticise Matuidi, he again questioned Geiger.
"I thought the referee didn't help us at all. There were some heavy challenges and I think Ogenyi Onazi has broken his ankle. Challenges like this are bad but it was a 50-50, he just miscalculated," Mikel said. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Mikel shut up! Your performance was pitiable and you are talking nonsense .So you are banking on red cards to win.Shame on you! The point is that you have failed to raise your game either for club or country. You were a sorry site to watch during this Brasil 2014 world cup. You are annoyingly slow, lacks initiatives, Cannot tackle or dribble, Always disrupting flow and transiting of attack on the opponents,Back passing master,In fact you play retrogressive footbal. Did you not Watch Mutuida and Pogba-how they played for French teams .These are your age mates.so,do not think that you are a star because you play for Chelsea. When your contract expires let me see whether Barca or Real Madrid will come for you. It is sad that you are the same player Chelsea and Man U was struggling to have few years ago. So you should do stock taking and stop talking rubbish. Your next club will be Gabros of Nnewi. O to!
ReplyDeleteSo if no red card u don't win matches? Mikel sorry. Its better u keeo quiet if you have nothing reasonable to say. ALIKA
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