“My slaps are for real.”
Former Charlton and Standard Liege manager Guy Luzon definitely went older than old-school at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, on Tuesday, with a harsh motivational gee-up to one of his players.
Luzon’s Israel U21 side were pushed to the very brink by Ireland in their Uefa Championships playoff, before goalkeeper Daniel Peretz went into full-on hero mode in the penalty shootout.
The two-legged playoff finished 1-1 on aggregate, after extra time, and it got pretty tense out there. So tense, in fact, that Luzon was captured giving defender Ziv Morgan a lusty tactical rejoinder. Morgan took the slap in his stride, but Luzon still was not finished:
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‘Everything is out of love’ – Guy Luzon
Following his side’s 3-1 shootout success, which sends them to the Uefa Championships, Guy Luzon played the slap incident down. He told The Times of Israel:
“A slap? That was just a pat. When I give a slap, you feel it.
“Everything is out of love. My slaps are for real. What I gave Morgan was just a pat.”
The slap has already been made light of by Morgan, who shared a video of it on his Instagram account, and his teammate Samuel Broun, who recreated the moment the morning after that shoot-out drama:
Ziv Morgan plays his club football with Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the Israeli Premier League.
The 22-year-old will be hoping to turn some heads against the best U21 talents out there when Israel compete at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, next summer. He will be 23 by then, but the tournament allows all players born after January 1, 2000 to represent their country, if selected, at it.
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If Ziv Morgan does make that squad, he may be slow to approach the sideline again, if beckoned by Guy Luzon.
Related links.
- Ireland player ratings as Stephen Kenny’s team survive scare against Armenia.
- Ireland U21s miss out on European Championships after devastating shootout drama.
- “How long does this go on for?” – Damien Delaney challenges Stephen Kenny’s record.
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