Cristian Romero has caused a stir on social media by briefly reposting a report suggesting Tottenham chiefs forced him to organise his own travel back from international duty.
Romero suffered through a miserable Sunday as the player he was meant to be marking for a second-half corner, Gabriel Magalhaes, headed home Arsenal’s winner in the north London derby.
And Romero seemingly took out his anger by reposting a report from Argentinian journalist Gaston Edul, which translates to: “Tottenham lost to Arsenal again.
“Tottenham has not yet consolidated its position to fight because it is not in the details: It was the only club in the Premier League which sent players back from international duty on their own and without their own logistics by decisions of its leaders.
“It gave an advantage because its players arrived with less rest than others. Cuti Romero played with a fever.”
Romero promptly removed it from his X page, but not before screenshot proof began circulating. The defender then posted his own message to supporters, who were still down in the dumps after suffering a third consecutive defeat at home to the Gunners.
It read: “It hurts to lose a derby, but I have no doubt that we will turn this bad start to the season around. Let’s all be together, also at this moment. Thanks to all the fans for always supporting us.”
Romero had a tougher international break than most, jetting all the way to South America and playing the full 90 minutes in both of Argentina’s matches, the latter of which being a 2-1 defeat to Colombia on Tuesday night.
His taxing two weeks translated to problems on the pitch as, by and large, Spurs fans were left dissatisfied with his performance. In the crucial moments leading up to the goal, Arsenal legend Paul Merson felt Romero was unlucky not to be awarded a foul for a nudge in the back, but he also insisted the defending deserved to be punished.
“He is in the wrong position, everything is wrong about his defending,” Merson told Sky Sports. “He’s an international centre-half. Even I know, and I don’t play at the back, that you’ve got to be side-on, seeing the ball and your player.
“To start off with you’ve got to be a hand-length away (from him), and he was standing with him. But I do think… I’d expect a foul. I would expect a foul.”
