Graeme Souness reminded of his own disgraceful tackle after accusing Pogba of ‘leg breaker’

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By Rob Swan

Published Aug 30, 2021

Graeme Souness was fuming with Paul Pogba's tackle - but the Sky Sports pundit has been reminded of a far worse challenge he produced during his career

Graeme Souness has made no secret of the fact that he’s not Paul Pogba’s biggest fan.The 68-year-old has criticised Pogba on a host of occasions since the French midfielder returned to Manchester United from Juventus in 2016.Some of the criticism has been justified, but Souness has been accused by many of going over the top at times.The Sky Sports pundit was heavily criticised for describing Pogba’s challenge on Ruben Neves as a ‘leg breaker’.Pogba’s tackle went unpunished, much to Wolves’ fury, and Mason Greenwood scored United’s winning goal moments later.

Souness was fuming with Pogba's tackle

"The referee is there to referee the game, he's two metres away. Whether Neves goes down or doesn't go down - that is immaterial,” an apoplectic Souness complained after the match, per The Mirror.

"That is a leg breaker. Look how close the referee is, that's a leg breaker.

"Any player who has ever played the game, he's standing two yards away from it, they will tell you that's a dangerous challenge."

He added: "That referee has deemed that not a foul. That is impossible for anyone who knows anything about football to say that's not a foul."

Watch Pogba’s challenge on Neves here…

Leg breaker? Many people felt Souness was wide of the mark with his damning assessment of Pogba’s attempted tackle.

Football fans remind Souness of his own terrible tackle

In response, some football fans on social media were quick to remind Souness of what a proper ‘leg breaker’ looks like.

How? By showing him a video of a disgraceful challenge that he made during his own career.

Souness, who is one of the toughest tacklers in British football history, once crunched Steaua Bucharest’s Iosif Rotariu while playing for Rangers in the 1988 European Cup quarter-finals.

Watch the challenge here…

How Souness managed to escape a straight red card will forever be a mystery.

Souness's tackle 'could have been fatal' for Rotariu

Rotariu required an operation when he returned to Romania and says his life could have been in danger following one of the worst tackles in football history.

“My lymph nodes burst following this tackle,” he told Romanian TV, per The Sun, in 2019. “At half time, the doctor used a syringe to draw out the lymph fluid.

“My leg started to swell heavily. He put a bandage around my thigh.

“I didn’t feel my leg anymore but kept playing. I was not in pain because I didn’t feel my leg.

“After the game, the leg continued to swell. The doctor had to draw out the lymph fluid again.