Roy Keane has branded Manchester United captain Harry Maguire an ‘embarrassment’ after he stuck it to his critics with his goal celebration in England’s game against Albania.
The defender netted the opening goal on Friday at Wembley with a powerful header in the first half which kickstarted a ruthless performance from the Three Lions, who netted five goals in the first 45 minutes.
After scoring, Maguire – who has faced huge criticism for his displays in recent weeks – cupped his hands to the crowd and then put his fingers in his ears.
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The celebration was taken as a clear jibe at his critics, with the player having been singled out repeatedly during United’s recent run of poor results despite been rushed back into the team following an injury.
Keane has been one of Maguire’s biggest critics, after recent defeats against Liverpool and Man City at Old Trafford, and he was furious with the defender’s actions, taking another pop at his form this campaign and slamming the celebration.
‘He’s put his hands to his ears like he’s shutting the critics up, but I think that’s embarrassing,’ said Keane during half-time of ITV’s coverage.
‘He’s been a disgrace the last few months for Man United. He thinks because he’s scored there he’s going to shut his critics up? Embarrassing.’
Fellow pundit Ian Wright agreed that the celebration was not necessary, saying: ‘The thing with it is you just don’t need to do it.
‘I just feel like it’s something I probably would have done, but you look at it now and you think: you don’t need to do that because you’ve got a lot of football to play.
‘So don’t give them [the critics] the opportunity to say, “Right, we’ve got to him”. Just play the game Harry.’
Jermain Defoe, who was at Wembley as part of ITV’s coverage, said: ‘Yeah you don’t need to do it. He’s scored the goal, it’s a good goal, you don’t need to do that.
‘And what it does is it puts a sour taste in people’s mouths who don’t like that, and gives people the opportunity to wait for that bad performance again and have a go at him.’
