Ex-Milan man Nigel de Jong says ‘maybe one day Xabi Alonso and I will have a beer and laugh about’ his infamous kung-fu kick in the 2010 World Cup Final.
De Jong somehow avoided a straight red card for flying into Alonso’s chest with his studs up, but the former Netherlands midfielder insisted he only had eyes for the ball and not the Spaniard.
“I just wanted to play the ball – that was my only focus,” he told FourFourTwo.
Ex-Milan man Nigel de Jong says ‘maybe one day Xabi Alonso and I will have a beer and laugh about’ his infamous kung-fu kick in the 2010 World Cup Final.
De Jong somehow avoided a straight red card for flying into Alonso’s chest with his studs up, but the former Netherlands midfielder insisted he only had eyes for the ball and not the Spaniard.
“I just wanted to play the ball – that was my only focus,” he told FourFourTwo.
“I didn’t see Alonso coming because he was on my blind side. I didn’t expect to get sent off at the time because I felt it was obviously an unfortunate incident.
“I was lucky that an English referee was in charge, because he’d seen many hard challenges in the past.
“I thought he would give me the benefit of the doubt because I put my hands up immediately.
“We’ve seen each other but we’ve never spoken about that moment – it’s just a moment in football history.
“We play a contact sport and sometimes you will get a red for a lesser challenge. That incident came on the world stage so it gained a lot of attention.
“Maybe one day we'll see each other, have a beer and laugh about it. Ultimately, he won the game. I think he had the last laugh.”