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Atlético Mineiro football director Alexandre Mattos came to the defense of player Felipe Melo. The now Palmeiras defender was called by Juventus captain Giorgio Chiellini as a “rotten apple”.
The opinion was expressed in his autobiography “Io, Giorgio” and reproduced by the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
Felipe Melo: the worst of the worst. There was always a fight with him. I also said to managers: it’s a bad apple
Giorgio Chellini, Juventus captain
Mattos, who worked with Felipe Melo in Palmeiras, came to the defense of the former midfielder in a video sent to the FOX Sports Radio program.
“Talking about Felipe Melo is very easy. He is one of the best professionals I have worked with. He is the first to arrive, the last to leave. Always positive, always hugging. He charges a lot, he knows how to be accused. I had absolutely no problem with him, just joy, just high-level discussion, because he’s a smart guy, “Mattos began.
Alexandre Mattos, Palmeiras football director
Image: Cesar Greco / Palmeiras / Disclosure
He also said that “sometimes the guy who wants to win, who speaks his mind, carries with him this nonsense, especially many envious ones, which must be the case with this player there (Chiellini).”
Felipe Melo replied to his former club colleague in an official note sent to the Spanish newspaper Marca. Melo said that “it would be interesting to know the episodes to which he refers”, but that “it is okay to respond”.
“When I was in Turin, I never disrespected anyone: not even my teammates, nor the leaders, nor Juventus in general. He says that Balotelli should be slapped and that I am the worst of the worst and always was there a risk of fighting over me? He always got mad. It’s easy to speak ill of others with a book. “
“Perhaps ‘this defender’ is still mad at me because when I went to Galatasaray, we expelled them from the Champions League. Also with Brazil in the Confederations, we eliminated Italy and won. He did not win anything. Saying certain things that he proved not to be professional, it is lack of respect and I am not saying it because there are things that must remain in the dressing room, “said Felipe Melo.
In the biography, he also went for the Italian striker Mario Balotelli. “Balotelli is a negative person, with no respect for the group … At the Confederations Cup in 2013, he did not help us at all,” Chellini said.
Balotelli also responded. He said he hoped “at least the sincerity and courage to tell me things to my face.”
Since 2013, he has had many opportunities to behave like a real man, but he did not. Who knows what he will say one day about his colleagues today, strange captain … If that means being a champion, I prefer not to be. And I never disrespected the national team jersey
