Peter Crouch Explains Why He Wanted To Punch Marcelo More Than 'Anyone In My Life'

Peter Crouch has admitted that he "never wanted to punch anyone more" in his life than Marcelo after he was sent off during a 2011 Champions League clash.

The 39-year-old was in his second spell with Tottenham at the time and came up against Marcelo during the first-leg quarter-final clash against Real Madrid.

And Crouch would only play 15 minutes of the Champions League clash at the Santiago Bernabeu before he was sent off.

The former Stoke City and Spurs striker picked up two quick-fire bookings, with the second coming as a result of a questionable challenge on Marcelo.

Crouch had no love lost towards the 32-year-old Brazilian left-back and was furious with how Marcelo reacted to his challenge.

The ex-England international told Paddy Power's From The Horse's Mouth podcast: "The dressing room is underneath the stadium and there are tiers upon tiers of fans and you can hear them.

"I'm sat in the dressing room with a towel over my head, hearing goal after goal after goal going in and I'm thinking: 'That's down to me.' That was a low point and a big regret.

"I do have a little excuse when it comes to the cards, though. The first one was me being excitable, so I can give the referee that. It was a tackle on Sergio Ramos.

"For the second one, I went to block a ball down the line from Marcelo and I did dive in a bit, but I didn't touch him.

"He's jumped up in the air and rolled around, and there is a camera angle where you can see he looks at the referee and he celebrates as the red card comes out then he jumps back up.

"I've never wanted to punch anyone more in my life! For them, that was seen as a win. They've won the game and they played me. I was naive to let myself get caught up in that."

Madrid would thrash Spurs 4-0 at the Bernabeu before picking up a 1-0 victory in the return leg.

Crouch would leave Spurs in 2011 and play for Stoke City and Burnley before announcing his retirement from football in 2019.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Spurs, Los Blancos, Football News, Peter Crouch, Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Marcelo, Premier League, tottenham, Champions League, Real Madrid, La Liga

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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