Football evokes emotions unlike any other sport, and for one ex-Man Utd star, that line crossed into something dangerous.
With the FIFA World Cup currently ongoing, England are once again under intense scrutiny.
Having not won the tournament since 1966, the pressure is immense on the founders of the game to live up to that reputation.
That pressure can materialise into dangerous situations, as one ex-Man Utd star found out at his own peril.
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Phil Neville recalls traumatic England memory
If the pressure on the English team is big right now due to social media, it was even more intense for the “Golden Generation”.
Much has been said about players from that time that they were unable to let go of their club allegiances, leading to underperformance at the international level.
Phil Neville bore the brunt of that criticism in a dangerous situation when he returned from the Euros 2000, where he conceded a late penalty against Romania to get knocked out.
He said [via The Times]: “I played for United, of course, but representing England is another level of intensity, scrutiny and pressure, and I know exactly how dark a place it can be when it goes wrong.
“After I conceded a late penalty against Romania at Euro 2000 and we were knocked out, my wife picked me up from Manchester airport. We returned home to find our front gates on fire, with an England flag hanging from the top of them. My wife was obviously very upset, and it felt a very lonely place indeed.”
Man Utd have had an uneasy relationship with England
Neville’s comments hammer home the uneasy dynamic that has existed between Man Utd’s English players and the national team for a while now.
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From David Beckham getting brutally criticised, and finding a safe haven at Old Trafford, to the likes of Wayne Rooney and Gary Neville being somewhat of rebels fighting for Man Utd, this uneasiness has existed.
When Man Utd fans gave the players love and support, some English fans invaded their privacy and put their family in dangerous situations.
It has lessened in recent years, as the likes of Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford have come to personify grit and resilience in the national team’s colours, but instances like the one Neville mentioned above only served to widen that chasm.
The hope will remain that incidents like these are fewer and fewer, ideally zero, because nobody deserves to go through such a traumatic experience over a game of football.
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