France’s Loic Remy has no sympathy for fellow striker and former club teammate Fred, and thinks he should be “punished” for the way he won a controversial penalty in Brazil’s 3-1 win against Croatia.
Fred went down in the penalty area under light contact from Dejan Lovren in the 71st minute, allowing Neymar to convert a spot-kick that gave Brazil a 2-1 lead in Thursday’s World Cup opener.
Croatia’s players were furious with referee Yuichi Nishimura’s decision, with Lovren saying “we can give the World Cup directly to Brazil.”
Photo: AFP
Remy said on Friday that he thought Fred had hoodwinked Nishimura.
“He does it well, throws himself at the right time because you can see that there’s no foul at all. Lovren doesn’t pull him back,” said Remy, who played two seasons with Fred for Lyon from 2006 to 2008. “Experience comes into it, and it’s important to fall at the right time. For me, the striker should be punished for this kind of wrongdoing.”
“It’s true that it’s always infuriating to lose to refereeing mistakes, so I hope it doesn’t happen to us,” the 27-year-old Remy said. “When you look at yesterday’s game, the Croats played very well and deserved another result. Not necessarily to win, but they deserved a different result.”
“Referees make mistakes and you have to pay attention,” he added.
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