Tottenham star Eric Dier has defended his team-mate Dele Alli by claiming that he is not a malicious player.
Alli was lucky to have escaped receiving a red-card during his side’s 4-1 loss against Manchester City last weekend after he committed a reckless challenge on Kevin de Bruyne.
The midfielder received the first red-card of his career in February against Gent following a challenge on Brecht Dejargere and he has also been accused of stamping on Crystal Palace and Fiorentina players.
Alli was also punished by FIFA in September and received a one match ban after he was seen making a middle finger gesture during England’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia. He claimed that the gesture was aimed jokingly at his national team team-mate Kyle Walker.
Amid all the controversy, teammate Dier has now defended his team-mate by saying, “Dele is not a malicious player. He’s made a tackle, the referee made a decision, gave him a yellow card and that’s that really.
“You know, it’s football. The speed at which it is played there are going to be bad tackles, there are going to be good tackles and that’s football. It’s a really important period in the next four games. We’re looking to pick up maximum points and we’ll try to do that.”
