Midfielder Samir Nasri lashed out against Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, accusing him of cheating in order to get him sent off during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg tie, which the Foxes won 2-0 against Sevilla to progress through to the last eight.
Nasri, who is playing for Sevilla on loan this season, also opined that the English press would have taken a different stand on the face-off if it was a foreigner and not an English player. The 29-year-old and the Englishman were involved in a heated eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation before the latter suddenly went tumbling down on the ground. Nasri, subsequently, was handed a second yellow card for the offence.
“For me he’s a cheat because if he was a foreign player you, the English press, would be saying he’s a cheat,” he said. “They were winning 2-0, play the game like a man. You are not better than us but you are winning 2-0 and will qualify, just play the game,” Nasri said.
Vardy refuted his opponent’s claims, “I’m not a cheat and I never have been. That’s all I’ve got to say on the matter,” he said.
Nasri went on to say that he was prepared to have a talk with Vardy over the bust-up, and alleged that the latter “played” the tussle to his advantage, “For an international player you don’t need to do that. Look at the image. Yes he did it, but he did it well. He played it well. I thought the English players were tougher than that. He is the one who came to my face.”
“It was a foul or something and then he pushed me and I said ‘what are you doing?’ and then he came to my face. That’s what happened. If I tell the truth I don’t think you will be able to write it. I would love to speak to him – there are too many cameras and security and I have to think about next year and not getting a big suspension,” Nasri added.