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Calls for Nicolas Otamendi to be punished after latest moronic act

Published 18:11 30 Jun 2018 BST

Darragh Murphy
Calls for Nicolas Otamendi to be punished after latest moronic act

Homesport

Nicolas Otamendi has not only lost a place in the World Cup quarter-finals but he's also lost plenty of respect among his fellow professionals.

Otamendi has been accused of a disappointing lack of sportsmanship after booting the football at opponents' heads on more than one occasion in Russia. In Argentina's crushing 3-0 group stage defeat to Croatia, the centre-half hoofed the ball into Ivan Rakitic's head from just inches away, sparking a melee between the teams. Otamendi seemingly doesn't take too kindly to being on the losing side because he repeated the offence on Saturday afternoon, when Argentina were eliminated from the World Cup in a dramatic clash with France. The Round of 16 game brought forth a seven-goal thriller and with Argentina desperately seeking an equaliser deep in injury time, Otamendi was issued a yellow card for belting the football at Paul Pogba's head, again bringing both groups of players together in a shoving match. The Manchester City centre-half has not made many friends in Russia and supporters have also not taken kindly to his tendency to lash out when results don't seem to be going his way. A ball to the head might not result in a career-threatening injury but there's no need for it whatsoever and Otamendi's behaviour has even resulted in calls for Fifa to take retroactive action against the defender. https://twitter.com/GrantWahl/status/1013087867604819970 https://twitter.com/arseblog/status/1013087848847826944 https://twitter.com/Architghosh/status/1013090040065478656 https://twitter.com/fezyexquisite/status/1013099992439980034 https://twitter.com/Deixel_/status/1013095701880991746 https://twitter.com/DontTreadSoccer/status/1013093804461699072 https://twitter.com/yaxleybabysale/status/1013088772207075329 https://twitter.com/ike_milan/status/1013090156021198849 https://twitter.com/chuannyboy/status/1013098631832846336 https://twitter.com/nebsjnr/status/1013097132805550080 https://twitter.com/omair_95/status/1013095760903245824 https://twitter.com/Shantanu3196/status/1013092757865238528 https://twitter.com/nakul_jadhav/status/1013092209216794624 https://twitter.com/natedigidy89/status/1013090375085510658 https://twitter.com/mhh10_/status/1013090183603015680
Calls for Nicolas Otamendi to be punished after latest moronic act