Crouch is Spurs’ San Siro hero
AC MILAN 0 vs TOTTENHAM 1
TOTTENHAM manager Harry Redknapp has implored Uefa to review Mathieu Flamini’s horror tackle on Vedran Corluka following the latest installment of his side’s Champions League fairytale.
Peter Crouch’s 80th minute strike gave Tottenham a fully deserved first leg win, but Flamini’s two-footed assault on the Croatia defender, allied to the disgraceful antics of Gennaro Gattuso threatened to overshadow a momentous victory.
Despite Redknapp’s desire to see him punished Flamini is likely to avoid retrospective action, but Uefa are sure to take a dim view of Gattuso’s behaviour.
The 32-year-old shoved Spurs’ assistant boss Joe Jordan following a tackle from Steven Pienaar and then headbutted the former Scotland international after the final whistle.
“The tackle from Flamini was a horrendous tackle,” Redknapp said. “It was a sending off. He was two or three feet off the floor with two feet. It was a leg-breaking tackle.
“I’d like them (Uefa) to have a look at that tackle. How he doesn’t give him a red card, I don’t know.”
Gattuso, Milan’s long-serving aggravator in chief, failed in his attempts to rile Spurs, whose control on events had been almost total.
Heurelho Gomes was pressed into action on only two occasions, before Crouch slotted home after Aaron Lennon had run half the length of the pitch to set him up.
Frustrated, beaten and suspended from the second leg, Gattuso then turned his attentions to Jordan, a former Milan centre forward himself, and completely lost the plot.
“Gattuso had a flair-up with Joe Jordan. I don’t know why. He obviously hasn’t done his homework. He could have picked a fight with someone other than Joe,” said Redknapp.
Didier Drogba was suspended for four European matches after he went into meltdown following Chelsea’s controversial exit from the 2009 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, and Gattuso could well face a similar sentence.“Jordan was on at me for the whole second half, but I should never have done what I did. There is no justification,” he said.
“I’m not going to say what was said, that’s between us, we were speaking English. Do I expect a ban? I’ll accept whatever I get.”
FLASHPOINTS | MILAN LOSE THE PLOT
After being played off the park in the first half, Milan, and in particular Mathieu Flamini and Gennaro Gattuso, opted to get physical in their attempts to unsettle Spurs. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t clever.
56 mins: Flamini, a veteran of a few spiky north London derbies, launches into a two-footed horror tackle on Vedran Corluka. Somehow he avoids a red card.
71 mins: Having already riled Peter Crouch, Gattuso shoves Spurs’ assistant coach Joe Jordan, no shrinking violet himself back in the day, in the face. Tempers boil over.
Full time: Gattuso, by now suspended from the second leg , walks over to the Spurs bench, shakes hands with Harry Rekdnapp and headbutts Jordan.