Queiroz comes down hard on Bruno Pereirinha and Rui Pedro

Portugal U21 duo punished as ‘playful’ penalty goes wrong

The Portuguese football hierarchy has taken a dim view of Bruno Pereirinha’s attempt to imitate Johan Cruijff’s famous passed penalty goal yesterday.

In the closing minutes of Portugal U21s 2-0 victory over Cape Verde in the Madeira tournament, the Sporting midfielder stepped up to take a penalty, passed to team-mate Rui Pedro, but the ball was cleared before a shot on goal was even produced (see video).

As a result of the blunder, both Bruno Pereirinha and Rui Pedro have been left out of Portugal’s next game against a Madeira XI, upon orders from the national team’s head coach, Carlos Queiroz.

After the match Bruno Pereirinha explained why he had taken the penalty this way, and insisted he did not intend to show any disrespect to Portugal’s opponents.

“It was something that had been decided with my team-mate. Unfortunately it went wrong. It was not an attitude of lack of respect for our opponents, but the circumstances of the game gave me the idea.

“I’m here to accept that. The coach talked to me and told me not to ever repeat it. I can only say again that the decision to try it was not out of any disrespect to our opponents.”

See the original Cruijff penalty by clicking on the screen below.

By Tom Kundert