Barcelona midfielder Frankie de Jong has challenged Dani Carvajal over his reaction to Lamine Yamal’s taunts during Real Madrid’s 2–1 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday.
The buildup to the game had been dominated by Yamal, who leveled accusations of “stealing and complaining” against Madrid in regards to referee decisions before poking fun at Los Blancos during his prematch social media post.
It was reported that Yamal’s behavior had not gone down well inside the Madrid squad and right back Carvajal planned to confront his international teammate, and that proved to be the case. After Madrid’s 2–1 victory, the two sets of players clashed following an interaction between the two players, with Jude Bellingham and Aurélien Tchouaméni among those to tease Yamal after the game.
On the other side of the Clásico divide, De Jong argued Carvajal, as a leader of the Spain national team, should not have made his issue with the winger public.
“It was all very exaggerated,” the Dutchman said. “If you know Lamine and think he shouldn’t make those statements, you call him privately.
“Besides, it’s not that serious. I didn’t hear Lamine directly saying that Madrid was stealing.”
Araujo: Yamal Knows What Is Expected of Him
Yamal’s words were soon put to center back Ronald Araujo, who declined to delve too much into the issue and offered only a cryptic piece of advice to the teenager.
“I’m not going to talk about Lamine today,” he stressed. “I’m just going to say that he’s a great professional and that we’re happy to have him with us.
“He’s of age and knows what he has to do.”
Araujo ended up involved in the on-field scuffle, but confessed he was unsure as to the origin of the fight and was simply trying to protect his Barcelona teammate.
“I don’t know what happened. I just went to separate the two,” he argued. “How Madrid took [Yamal’s prematch comments] doesn’t matter to me. It’s their business.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Frenkie de Jong Criticizes Real Madrid Over Lamine Yamal Reaction.