France beat Kevin De Bruyne’s Belgium to a quarter-final place at Euro 2024 (Picture: Getty)
Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri has hit back after Kevin De Bruyne called him ‘stupid’ for bringing up Belgium’s so-called ‘golden generation’ in the wake of their Euro 2024 exit, saying the midfielder should have been brave enough to say the insult to his face.
France beat Belgium to a quarter-final spot thanks to a late own goal from Jan Vertonghen on Monday evening, ensuring the Red Devils’ long wait for silverware at a major tournament goes on.
Belgium have repeatedly underachieved despite boasting the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, Vincent Kompany and Dries Mertens in recent years – and the disappointment was etched on the faces of Domenico Tedesco’s players in Dusseldorf.
De Bruyne was given the unenviable task of facing the media following Belgium’s painful defeat and the Manchester City star was less than impressed with the line of questioning he came up against.
In particular, De Bruyne took exception to a question from journalist Palmeri regarding the latest disappointing showing by what has widely been labelled Belgium’s ‘golden generation’.
‘Does it hurt that the golden generation didn’t achieve a final once again,’ Palmeri asked De Bruyne.
‘And you say that France and England and Spain and Germany is not a golden generation?’ De Bruyne responded, before and muttering, ‘Stupid’, and making his way off the stage.
“¿Por qué la generación dorada de Bélgica no ganó nada?”, le preguntaron a De Bruyne tras caer en la #Euro2024
“¿Cree que Francia, Inglaterra, España y Alemania no tienen una generación dorada?”, respondió él… y se fue llamando estúpido al periodista
pic.twitter.com/qERCmLMf1Z
— MARCA (@marca) July 1, 2024
Reacting to a clip of the exchange on X, Palmeri called De Bruyne a ‘spoiled brat’ and reminded the midfielder that the teams he named had all reached a final at one point or another.
‘Hey Kevin, little memo for you: the golden generation you mentioned of France, England, Germany and Spain they ALL REACHED A FINAL!’ he said.
‘Usual footballer that wants only question telling him how good they are. Spoiled brat.’
Vertonghen’s own goal proved decisive in Dusseldorf (Picture: Getty)
Speaking later with talkSPORT, Palmeri revealed that he was unaware De Bruyne had insulted him until he was told by fellow journalists that a video of their exchange was going viral.
‘He didn’t say it to my face that I was stupid. He said it just when he turned his face from the other side when walking out off the podium,’ Palmeri explained.
‘In fact, I was then sitting in the media cafe watching Portugal v Slovenia and I heard Mexican colleagues next to my table saying, “You are becoming viral?”, and I said, “For what?”, and they said: “Because Kevin De Bruyne called you stupid!”.
‘I said, “When did he call me stupid? I was in front of him!”, and then there was the reverse angle, like VAR, or journalists from the other side.’
France progressed to the quarter-finals but are yet …read more
Source:: Metro
