Martin Keown was labelled "soft" live on air while commentating on Atletico Madrid's Champions League win over Feyenoord.
The former hardman footballer said he agreed with the referee's decision to penalise Alvaro Morata for a coming together with Feyenoord keeper Timon Wellenreuther in the box. The ex-Chelsea forward leaped up for a header and bumped into Wellenreuther, who tumbled to the floor to win a contentious free-kick.
Keown, somewhat surprisingly, said he agreed with the referee's decision, to which TNT Sport lead commentator Paul Dempsey replied: "You have gone so soft, since we started working together. I mean that."
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Clearly irritated, Keown responded: "Well I think it's a foul, end of." Ultimately, it didn't matter as Atletico went on to secure a narrow 3-2 victory over their Eredivisie opponents.
Morata opened the scoring after just 12 minutes before grabbing a second goal just after the break, but the strike of the night belonged to Antoine Griezmann whose ingenious looping bicycle kick completely outfoxed Wellenreuther in first half stoppage time.
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In his pomp, Keown was a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender who wasn't afraid to knock seven bells out of his opponents to get a win. He infamously accosted Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy after the Dutchman missed a last-minute penalty against Arsenal in 2003 by jumping into him and screaming in his face at full-time.
Speaking about the incident in 2022, the ex-Arsenal star says he has "no regrets". "I didn’t feel I could trust Van Nistelrooy going into that game. He would collapse at the slightest touch in the box.
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"Looking back, perhaps we could have toned down our reaction. But it happened in the heat of the moment and I don’t regret anything I did. I certainly don’t hold any malice towards Van Nistelrooy today. What happened, happened."
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