Former Liverpool forward El Hadji Diouf has defended Manchester United goalkeeper André Onana ahead of tomorrow's FA Cup tie at Old Trafford. Diouf has accused fellow former Anfield star Rigobert Song of a 'lack of respect' towards the Red Devils' stopper.
Onana was late to join his Cameroon teammates for the Africa Cup of Nations in January because he stayed to play in Manchester United's 2-2 draw with Tottenham at Old Trafford. With less than 24 hours between the end of that match and the start of Cameroon's first game, Onana had to take a private flight to the host country, Ivory Coast.
Weather delays though meant Onana only joined up with the squad a few hours before kick-off against Guinea. Despite his long and rushed journey, he was left out of the team by Song.
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He did play in a 3-1 defeat to Senegal, but was benched for the final group win over The Gambia and the last-16 defeat to Nigeria. Onana had returned to international football after reversing his decision to retire following a previous fallout with Song.
Song has since been dismissed as Cameroon boss following AFCON. That hasn't stopped Anfield flop Diouf from hitting out at his treatment of Onana though.
He said on Canal+, as reported by Afrique Sports: "André Onana is someone I respect a lot and I congratulate him for what he does and his commitment to his team.
"How can you have a goalkeeper of Onana's caliber, an immense talent who plays for Manchester United and not play him in the round of 16 game? For me, it's a lack of respect and if I were a player, I wouldn't agree with that."
He also had tough words before when talking about Onana coming late to the tournament. He was quoted by Foot Mercato saying: "Cameroon have gone backwards.
"These days, I'm in pain for the Cameroon fans and Cameroon people. They say they are the continent, but it's more the continental hotel, because they are sitting back on their history. To see their goalkeeper arriving two days before a game. That would be unacceptable for Senegal."
Liverpool.com says: Well what a surprise, a bad take from Diouf. Onana choosing to stay at United rather than report for his country on time was ridiculous, and rather sums up United as a club at the moment. It's not even as if Onana was making a huge difference, he's dropped more than a few clangers this season. You can't really blame Song for dropping him.
You can't imagine Liverpool doing the same as United did in that instance. In fact, it would have been a lot more understandable if the Reds had held Mohamed Salah back before letting him go to AFCON.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can read the original story in the Manchester Evening News by clicking here.