Gary Neville fires back at Cristian Romero after Argentina star labels him ‘stupid’

Gary Neville has doubled down on his criticism of Cristian Romero after the defender branded him ‘stupid’ for comments he had made prior to Argentina’s World Cup semi-final win over England.

During ITV’s World Cup coverage, Neville described Romero and centre-back partner Lisandro Martinez as ‘the best worst centre-halves in the world’, remarks which had clearly made an impact in the Argentinian camp.

It came after Argentina, the reigning champions, had narrowly avoided almighty upsets against both Cape Verde and Egypt, before beating Switzerland in extra-time to squeeze through to the final four.

‘They give goals away constantly, but they don’t care about giving goals away because they’ll score goals at the other end. And they have massive personalities and they keep going,’ Neville said.

‘At that point in the game [when Egypt scored their second goal] you think Argentina are holding on for dear life.

‘They’re fighting for their lives and Romero is part of that comeback.

‘Why is he there? You always ask the question. Why is Martinez scoring in the last game? They don’t give in and they fight, and they fight, and they fight.’

In an absorbing and bad-tempered semi-final on Wednesday, England had looked to be heading for only a second World Cup final appearance after Anthony Gordon directed home Morgan Rogers’ cross to break the deadlock in Atlanta.

But the holders came from behind to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in a stunning late fightback, with Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez both scoring in the closing stages.

Speaking to the Argentinian press after their spirited comeback win, Romero and Martinez gave a joint interview in which they made it abundantly clear how unimpressed there were with Neville’s pre-match comments.

‘We’re used to people always talking about us, it seems they just love talking about us,’ Manchester United centre-half Martinez told DSports Argentina.

‘We don’t really respond, we just let our play on the pitch do the talking, always with respect.’

Asked about Neville’s remarks, Romero replied: ‘The only thing I hope is that when I retire, I won’t be that stupid.

‘Hopefully, down the line, I won’t go around criticising players or anyone else.

‘After all, you go out there trying to do your best for your team and your national team, sometimes it works out well, sometimes it doesn’t, it’s not the end of the world.

‘We’re making history here, it’s huge for us. We feel the shirt like no one else, and we’re really happy to be making history.’

Neville took the opportunity to issue his reply when asked about the back-and-forth on Sky Sports News this afternoon, with the former Manchester United and England right-back refusing to let Romero have the last word.

Asked if he stood by his previous comments, Neville responded: ‘Yeah, I said they give goals away and they’ve conceded six, by the way, in the knockout games, in four matches.

‘If they didn’t have Lionel Messi up front… those two should go and hug him every single minute of every single day because he’s had to pull them out of the mire.

‘They conceded two against Egypt and two against Cape Verde, one against Switzerland and one against England so they’ve conceded six goals in the knockout phase.

‘I did go on to say that they are incredible – and those were my exact words – and their force of nature of how they try and win their games, they go from the sublime to the ridiculous.

‘Romero played in a team [Tottenham] last year that nearly went down and got relegated in the Premier League, conceding 65 goals, so I think I know what I’m talking about when I watch a player.

‘He’s very talented, as is Lisandro Martinez, but they do make mistakes, lots of them, and they have conceded goals. But they are a force of nature, they have incredible personalities, they go and win every header in the attacking box and sometimes in the defensive box and I just see such a contradiction in games.

‘He’s relatively young, Romero, he’s not an experienced defender yet. He’s won a World Cup and he’s got incredible achievements. But without Lionel Messi last night and without Lionel Messi in these last two tournaments…’

Neville insisted Argentina’s victory was largely down to Messi, who he branded a ‘genius’.

‘We should talk about him because what we saw last night was absolute genius, he added.

‘Argentina didn’t win last night because of their centre-backs, they won last night because of their great player who is arguably the greatest player of all time.’

On England’s elimination, Neville continued: ‘I’m disappointed with how it’s ended.

‘You obviously get there and think we’ve got a chance, particularly with five minutes to go and we’re 1-0 up.

‘But the reality of it is that some of the same patterns emerged in the game that have hampered England in tournaments gone by over the last 20 or 30 years.’

Thomas Tuchel’s ultra-defensive approach after England took the lead has been met with heavy criticism and there are even calls for the German to step down from his post.

As it stands, though, the FA are planning to keep faith with the former Chelsea, PSG and Bayern Munich boss.

Tuchel put pen to paper on a two-year extension with the Three Lions in February, with his contract running through to Euro 2028.

Argentina’s victory sets up what promises to be a compelling showdown with Luis de la Fuente’s Spain in Sunday’s final.

England, meanwhile, must pick themselves up off the floor to do battle with France in the third-place playoff on Saturday.

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