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Nani’s skills spark ‘showboating’ debate

Winger criticised for “humiliating” Arsenal – Have your say

Nani’s performance against Arsenal in Manchester United’s convincing 4-0 victory at Old Trafford on Saturday was almost certainly his best since arriving in the Premiership, but the Portuguese has caused a stir in England for the wrong reasons following the match.

The former Sporting man, who scored one and created two others in his side’s dominant victory, was the subject of some heavy challenges from Arsenal players in the closing stages after antagonising his opponents with some provocative showboating.

With his side already 4-0 up, Nani juggled the ball on his head and performed a few kick-ups to evade the attentions of Justin Hoyte and Mathieu Flamini, both of whom made aggressive attempts to bring the Portuguese down. Shortly afterwards, William Gallas kicked Nani after the ball had gone in another show of frustration from the Gunners.

You Tube: Watch the incident that sparked the the fuss

After the match, Arsenal’s Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva said: “Some of our guys were upset that he did that, but they have calmed down now. I told him it wasn’t necessary to do that. I told him he could get a bad kick, although I don’t think any of our players would kick him too hard.”

Meanwhile, Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger told reporters: “Nani was very good today but he did not need to juggle the ball. He is a young player and wanted to show what he could do. Maybe he can learn from this.”

United boss Alex Ferguson seemingly agreed, but was furious at Gallas escaping a red card for his deliberate swipe at Nani, which has since been deemed unworthy of further action by referee Alan Wiley, who has watched the incident again on video.

“I agree he shouldn’t be doing that, he doesn’t need to do that,” said the Scot. “In some ways it shows a great deal of courage to do what he did, that’s one side of it. But he doesn’t need to do that and we’ve had a word with him.

“I thought Gallas should have been sent off,” the United manager said. “He kicked Nani from behind with the ball 20 yards away. I think it should be a red card.”


Should Nani be discouraged from showing off late on in games? Without question his antics were popular with the home crowd, but was his provocative ball juggling unnecessary humiliation of his fellow professionals, or simply another way for a skilful footballer to express himself and please his supporters? Leave your opinion using the form below.