Kieran Trippier branded hypocrite after statements on LaLiga

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By Martin Graham | 22nd Mar 2022

Leandro Cabrera has branded Newcastle United and former Atlético de Madrid defender Kieran Trippier a hypocrite.

Trippier spent two and a half seasons in the Spanish capital and was a key figure in the Atlético side that won the LaLiga after more than a decade. His contributions were such that club manager Diego Skmeone could not do without him.

However, the Englishman moved back to England with Newcastle United after claiming to have achieved his aim of moving abroad in the January transfer window.

Now settled in Tyneside and contributing his experience to the club’s upturn in fortunes in recent games, the former Tottenham Hotspur right back has spoken on his time in LaLiga.

“In training it was frustrating at times because some of the boys were diving and it did my head in, but you get used to it,” Trippier said to BBC Sport of his time playing for Atlético.

“It can be frustrating but it is the way they have been brought up and the way they play. Getting in each other’s faces and sprinting to the referee. I am not that type of player to do it in games, but it is what it is.”

Trippier’s comment which, by extension, implied that Spanish football is dependent on underhanded tactics did not sit well with Espanyol captain Leandro Cabrera.

The LaLiga and Segunda Division veteran jumped to the defence of Atlético after their former player chose to remember his time there in the way he described to BBC Sport.

“In the 2019 Champions League final between Liverpool and Tottenham it looked like there was a sniper in the stands,” Cabrera said. 

“You don’t have to be hypocrites, when you have to win, you do whatever it takes to win. The rest is poetry for the stands, the radio or excuses because the day I want to win and serve myself, I’ll do it.

“The day they want to beat me I’ll eat it, this is how it is.”

Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer