‘What’s crying going to do?’: Paul Scholes criticises Liverpool’s Loris Karius and Mohamed Salah for getting upset during Champions League final
- Paul Scholes says the game has changed and players are more sensitive now
- Scholes did not appreciate the emotion shown in the Champions League final
- Mo Salah cried after a dislocated shoulder forced him off during the first half
- Loris Karius was seen crying after his mistake helped Real Madrid to a 3-1 victory
Paul Scholes has poured salt in the wounds of Mohamed Salah and Loris Karius, who suffered a devastating Champions League final defeat with Liverpool, by criticising players who get upset in games.
Salah, Liverpool’s standout player of the campaign, was inconsolable as a shoulder injury forced him out of the match in the first half and in tears as he walked off the pitch.
Goalkeeper Karius could not control his emotions after making a terrible mistake to allow Gareth Bale to score Real Madrid’s third and final goal, after his earlier error gifted Karim Benzema the opener. Television cameras caught the moment he faced up to Liverpool with the waterworks flowing.
Loris Karius was left in tears after his mistakes helped Real Madrid beat Liverpool on Saturday
Mohamed Salah cried as he walked out of the Champions League final with a shoulder injury
Scholes, who had a hugely successful Manchester United career but lost two Champions League finals in 2009 and 2011, says both Salah and Karius would have got ‘a whole load of stick’ from their team-mates had they cried in his pomp.
‘I can understand Karius, I suppose, he’s devastated at what’s happened,’ he told Manchester Evening News. ‘But injuries are part of the game.
‘If you go back years and you saw somebody crying on the pitch, they’d have had a whole load of stick for it. Now it’s a different game, players are sensitive and they get upset easily.’
Karius fell to the floor after his mistake allowed Gareth Bale to score the third and final goal
Salah suffered a dislocated shoulder after an awkward clash with Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos
The no-nonsense midfielder had his resolve put to the ultimate test when he was booked in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Juventus in 1999, ruling him out of the final with Bayern Munich.
A similar situation famously reduced Paul Gascoigne to tears during the World Cup semi-final with England in 1990, but Scholes was able to stay composed and helped Sir Alex Ferguson’s side seal a 4-3 aggregate win in Turin.
When asked if the incident made him emotional, Scholes added: ‘No. What’s crying going to do?
‘It’s not going to make the booking go away. Obviously I was disappointed but close to tears? No.
‘I don’t think I have (cried on a pitch). Maybe when I was 11 or 12 and we lost the cup final or something.’
Paul Scholes was disappointed but did not cry when a card ruled him out of the 1999 final
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