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Diego Simeone has admitted that he took a dive to get David Beckham sent off at the 1998 World Cup.<\/p>\n
And the Argentinian bad boy was successful, as Golden Balls was shown a red card for the incident, which ultimately preceded England being dumped out of the competition. <\/p>\n
Becks became a figure of hate in the UK following the incident after then-manager Glenn Hoddle blamed England's exit on the red card, believing that they would have seen out the game if they kept 11-men on the pitch. <\/p>\n
READ MORE: <\/b>David Beckham's mum was 'offered outside' by male West Ham hooligan during match<\/b><\/p>\n
READ MORE: <\/b>David Beckham <\/b>met Victoria in car parks and first intimate moment came inside BMW<\/b><\/p>\n
But now in the new Netflix documentary on Beckham's life, Simeone has admitted that he does not believe the incident was a red card – because he was simply playing dirty. <\/p>\n
Recalling the incident, Simeone said: \u201cIt\u2019s not only about controlling the ball. It\u2019s also about focus and passion, and also controlling anger. I went to him to see how he would react."<\/p>\n
But asked if Beckham should have been sent off, the Atletico Madrid manager added: \u201cAbsolutely not. Absolutely not. The contact was minimal. You can see I was hamming it up, knocked over by David\u2019s imaginary kick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did you think Beckham deserved a red card? Let us know in the comments section. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
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The pair would then meet on the pitch again a number of months later when Manchester United took on Inter Milan in the Champions League.<\/p>\n
The media was geared up for the clash of the pair and all eyes were on their pre-match handshake. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t happy. That\u2019s understandable," recalls Simeone.<\/p>\n
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer remembered the pressure on Beckham in their rematch. \u201cThere was a little bit of talk, seeing how you do now against this lad," he said. "I don\u2019t think we as a team said we\u2019d do him for you, but there was a secret code there that if we could, we\u2019d smash him for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
United were to run out victors, with Beckham playing a key role in the events. \u201cAt the end of the match, he was sensible enough to exchange shirts with me,\u201d Simeone said. <\/p>\n
But what happened to the shirt? "I framed it," Beckham said with a wry smile. <\/p>\n
\nWorld Cup<\/li>\n England Football Team<\/li>\n David Beckham<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nSource: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bookmark For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter Thank you for subscribing! For the latest from the pitch sign up for our football newsletter We have more newsletters Diego Simeone has admitted that he took a dive to get David Beckham sent off at the 1998 World Cup. And the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Simeone's unexpected response to whether Beckham deserved World Cup 98 red card - Sports Life Tale<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n