Global Courant
The Brazilian defender, a self-confessed Boca fan, withdrew doing the “little chicken”. He then made explosive statements. Nacho Fernández crossed it for “disrespect”.
True to his style, Felipe Melo left the Monumental dedicating controversial gestures to the River Plate fans, after Fluminense’s 2-0 defeat on the fifth date of the Copa Libertadores group stage.
A confessed fan of Boca Juniors, the 39-year-old Brazilian footballer lives in a special way the clashes against the Núñez club. The day after the 5-1 win at the Maracana, he had recreated the video of “Beautiful morning, right?”, Popularized by Guillermo Francella, on his social networks.
This Wednesday, in the warm-up before the start of the match, he dedicated the gesture of the “little chicken” to the fans of the Millionaire, the same one that Carlos Tevez had done in 2004. He did it again after the final whistle, while he was retiring towards the locker room.
He was also a protagonist during the development of the match: in the first half, he had a cross with Nicolás de la Cruz and launched into his face an outrageous and exaggerated shout. Near the end, he tried to condition Esequiel Barco before he kicked the penalty that later sealed the 2-0. After the conversion, he had to endure a kind of revenge from Colombian striker Miguel Borja, who yelled at him practically in his face.
At the press conference, Melo’s position was still latent. It was demonstrated when they asked him if the meetings with River were special for him, taking into account his fanaticism for Xeneize.
“For me, playing against River is not special. It was one more game. Special is playing against Boca. Special is playing for Fluminense, playing the Copa Libertadores. For me it was normal to enter the field,” the experienced defender retorted.
In addition, he complained about the rough play of Martín Demichelis’ team and Wilmar Alexander Roldán Pérez’s refereeing: “In both games, River kicked and the referee didn’t charge anything. It’s very difficult when you play against teams like that and they don’t charge you nothing”.
Nacho Fernández’s response to Felipe Melo
Meanwhile, in statements he gave on the pitch, Ignacio Fernández referred to the Brazilian’s controversial gestures and did not hesitate to question his behavior.
“There are some gestures that they made when they left… You have to know how to win and you have to know how to lose. We in Brazil lost and we left with our heads held high, they should have done the same. Some players lack respect and That’s not good,” said Nacho.
Weeks ago, the Fluminense goalscorer, Germán Cano, had said in dialogue with Olé that, far from being a character, Felipe Melo is really a fan of Xeneize: “He is a big fan of Boca. Watch all the games on the phone. He speaks very good Spanish and is a cute character. Just as you see him on Instagram stories, he is on a day-to-day basis. He is a crazy cute that does us great. He shouts the goals and even sings the songs ”.
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