Eamon Dunphy lashes out at ‘morons’ who twisted his words in heated debate
Lionel Messi proved he still can produce the old magic at the weekend, which reminded football fans of some comments by a certain RTÉ pundit only last Wednesday, .
Fair play to Messi recovering from his midweek savaging by Eamon Dunphy...
— Dodge (@seidodge) April 23, 2017
Dunphy watching Messi'a performance tonight. pic.twitter.com/EMEEDZ7mT2
— Nathan Murphy (@nathanmurf) April 23, 2017
I guess Eamon Dunphy's words really put a pep in Lionel Messi's step ⚽️
— ⭐ amy o'connor ⭐ (@amyohconnor) April 23, 2017
Eamon Dunphy was right, Messi is in demise. Only two goals in El Classico and will be lucky to break 50 for the season. #thebestever
— Derek O'Reilly (@DerekOR14) April 23, 2017
However, Eamon Dunphy took to the airwaves last night to clear his name and deny that he ever wrote off the Barcelona legend.
He was confronted by former League of Ireland winner Alan Cawley on 2FM’s ‘Game On’, who suggested Dunphy had made “a bit of a boo-boo”.
Dunphy, however, was having none of it.
“You got it all wrong,” he said. “The first thing I said was that Barcelona as a team were gone and that we won’t see that team again.
“The next thing I said, and we all agreed, was that Messi, even if he’s lost 10/15/20%, would still be a great player.
“And I also said that I hoped he’d come to the Premier League, and maybe to Manchester City, and that it would be a fantastic thing.
“The third thing I said was that Real Madrid, not just Barcelona, were struggling, and anyone who watched last night will see that.
“Now, to misrepresent that – as funny enough another RTÉ programme did this morning – this is what stops people talking candidly about football and having really interesting discussions. Because some moron will say you said something you never said.”
🙌🌍👑 Hail, hail, Leo #Messi! The world's press reacts to yet another night of Argentine magic: https://t.co/ugO6i9dHr9 #ForçaBarça #ElClásico pic.twitter.com/VZ8GPYRpjc
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) April 24, 2017
What followed was a heated exchange between the pair, which ended with Dunphy saying Cawley “should get a job on fucking Morning Ireland” – which had also jokingly referred to Dunphy’s comments about Messi.
“I didn’t say that,” he continued. “You’re talking about something you allege that I said that I didn’t say. Now when you have a look at the tape, you can apologise.
“There’s a difference between saying that Barcelona are gone as a force in European football and saying Lionel Messi is finished. And by the way, scoring two goals last night wouldn’t prove very much in the great scheme of things.”
Well, here’s the tape…
Eamon Dunphy believes Barcelona have reached the end of a golden era pic.twitter.com/hXJHbeoanX
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) April 19, 2017
Dunphy said: “Messi is not the Messi of recent memory. That genius needs energy and inspiration, and gave energy and inspiration to everybody around him, but he was always linking up with Iniesta and Xavi.
“That’s now going to be a memory.”
