Dimitri Payet gives his side of the story on Cristiano Ronaldo’s injury

 

Dimitri Payet’s foul on Cristiano Ronaldo was the big talking point of last night’s Euro 2016 final.

The West Ham man injured Portugal’s star man with a tough tackle; he got the ball, but he caught Ronaldo’s knee with his trailing leg, and Ronaldo went down in a heap.

Ronaldo tried his best to play on, but in the end had to go off for treatment,

He then came back on, only to finally succumb to the injury and accept that he could no longer play.

Portugal still went on to win the game despite that adversity, but if France had won, there would have been a lot more questions asked of Payet’s tackle.

Payet didn’t mean it

So, was Payet’s foul over the top?

To the neutral observer, you could  say he was a little over-zealous, but it’s a bridge too far to suggest that he was trying to hurt Ronaldo, as Cristiano’s mother insinuated on Twitter.

Payet himself gave his version of events afterwards, and insisted that it was completely accidental:

”No, it was a challenge, that’s all, period.

I regained the possession and if I hurt him it was not intentional. 

“It’s not in my nature to be a bad guy on the pitch. There is no question about it.”