San Lorenzo captain Juan Mercier blasted Real Madrid players as ‘wimps’ following the Club World Cup final defeat to the Spaniards.
The referee gave a number of free-kicks against the Argentine outfit in the 2-0 loss in Marrakech, and Mercier believed it was the play-acting of Carlo Ancelotti’s men that contributed to much of them.
“Every time you touched one of the wimps they went tumbling over,” he told Argentine radio in comments reported by Marca.
“You went in hard to close them down – foul. You threw yourself into a challenge – foul. They should come and play over here for a while.
“We played the way we know how and they are not used to physical contact".
Despite the reverse his side suffered, Mercier believed they had got their tactics right.
“We got our approach spot on. We knew we had to play the way we did and try to keep the ball.
“Our plan was to play within a five-metre area and to pass in triangles rather than going route one because Real are very strong defensively.
“We played to our strengths and I think we gave a very good account of ourselves.We all made a huge effort, helping one another out and running this way and that.
“If we had tried to play on their terms then we'd have been embarrassed,” he insisted.
