Fired-up Odair Hellmann has launched a series of thinly-veiled taunts aimed at Steven Gerrard in the wake of their astonishing touchline dust-up in Saudi Arabia.
The angry Al-Raed boss was incensed with the former Rangers manager as the duo traded heated words during their recent encounter. Gerrard was angry during the exchange and even more fuming at the final whistle as Al-Ettifaq suffered a crushing 1-0 defeat to a side they were expected to handle with ease. And Hellmann – a tough-tackling enforcer during his playing career in Brazil – was unwilling to give the Liverpool hero an inch as he explained the shock scenes which have become headline news in the Middle East.
Speaking in his homeland, Hellmann put the squeeze on Gerrardwith a series of biting remarks and reckons Gerrard is feeling the heat at big-spending Ettifaq. The Brazilian said: “He [Gerrard] is being criticised for the millions of dollars invested in his team since last year. And they lost to us with eight foreigners. We were left with three and five kids on the field. He was going crazy.
“I demanded fair play from him in the first half and he got angry. I told him that fair play was only for his own benefit. And that they didn’t need this attitude, they just had to play better, because there is no comparison in investment between the teams.”
Gerrard’s side sit eighth in the Saudi Pro League as he aims to reignite his management career after his chastening stint as Aston Villa boss, following his three years in Glasgow with Rangers.