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The player-turned-expert took his dislike of the Spurs star’s actions too far on Sunday.
Sky Sports was forced to apologize after Graeme Souness used a racial stereotype to criticize Tottenham striker Erik Lamela.
Against Manchester United on Sunday, the Argentine was embroiled in a fight with Anthony Martial and fell dramatically after the Frenchman touched his face.
Martial was eventually sent off for the incident with the Spurs winning the match at Old Trafford 6-1.
Souness was livid by Lamela’s theatricality and ended up creating a racist stereotype during a lengthy spiel.
“If Martial goes, then Lamela has to go,” he said on Sky Sports. “Put your hands up, Martial attacks, it’s like a tickle on your chops and he falls off.
“It’s pathetic. It’s very Latino. If one goes, they both have to go. It’s pathetic. Is that what the English game is about? We Brits do it differently. I’ve played in a Latin country, me.” I have worked in Latin countries, I know how they see the game.
“Lamela will sleep well tonight thinking that he has done a great job for his team. It is not us.”
Not long after Souness’s comments, Sky Sports host Dave Jones chimed in with an apology as the announcer sought to avoid controversy.
“Now I have to say before we go, early in the program we criticized Erik Lamela’s role in the expulsion of Anthony Martial from the Manchester United Spurs game,” Jones said.
“We would like to apologize for any offense that was caused and the stereotypes of Latino culture.”
Although Souness took his criticism of Lamela too far, his actions also left Red Devils manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer quite frustrated.
“Red is not an excuse. The boy could be having throat surgery though!” Solskjaer said. “It’s a bad reaction from Anthony. But if that was one of my players, I’d hang him to dry by falling like this. He shouldn’t react like that.”
Martial’s expulsion would prove decisive, as Spurs scored five goals in his absence when scores were blocked at 1-1 before his expulsion.
The result leaves United in 16th place in the Premier League with one win and two losses in their first three games.
