Ibrahima Konate responds to Gary Neville over Liverpool decision in Wolves success
Ibrahima Konate made his feelings clear towards Gary Neville after being denied the man of the match award against Wolves on Saturday.
The Frenchman was insistent in his hilarious post-match interview that he was deserving of the award following his opener in the 2-1 victory, coupled with another strong performance despite his major error involving Alisson that led to Rayan Ait-Nouri's equalizer.
It led the center-back to launch an amusing tirade at the Sky Sports cameras after he was asked to present teammate Ryan Gravenberch with the man of the match trophy, questioning how they came about their decision and why it keeps happening to him.
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After asking interviewer Juliet Farrington if she knows who decides who gets the man of the match award, someone positioned off camera informed Konate that it was in fact down to former Manchester United defender Neville.
Upon hearing the news, Konate showed his distaste by kissing his teeth and amusingly quizzed: "Gary Neville...?", shaking his head before Gravenberch made matters worse by laughing and saying: "Thank you, Gary!"
It's common practice these days that Sky Sports allows its co-commentator to decide the man of the match award when providing live coverage of Premier League matches, even if a different player officially wins the award on other panels elsewhere.
Nonetheless, this time it was Gravenberch who picked up the trophy following the game, with Neville left more than impressed by his display from the middle of the park as Liverpool gained yet another three points to continue its strong start to the Premier League campaign.
Konate will unfortunately have to wait for his first official man of the match award of the season but is already looking ahead to the next game as he targets another impressive performance that could put him in line to receive the coveted trophy.
“What’s more important is the three points. We’re very happy with that," he told Sky Sports when reflecting on the game. "Wolves were very good today and it was a little bit tough for us. After we scored, we had a little bit of control on the game. In the second half, they come back to 1-1."
He added: “This is the Premier League. When you play in the Premier League, every game is very hard. We expected to get three points and we did it. We have an important game on Wednesday (against Bologna in the Champions League) and we have to start recovery now to be ready for that game.”