Bennett not proud of his ‘blown up’ tackle on Leroy Sane
Cardiff City defender Joe Bennett has admitted he is ‘not proud’ of the tackle he made on Manchester City’s Leroy Sane when the two sides met in the FA Cup earlier this year.
However, the BBC report that Bennett feels the challenge was ‘blown up’ by the media and he has moved on from the incident.
The 28-year-old bought down Sane with a studs-up tackle just as it looked like he might burst into the penalty area and take a shot at goal.
Bennett received a yellow card and was later sent off for a second rash challenge, this time on Brahim Diaz, but was widely criticised by pundits and fans alike.
Even the German FA had their say, urging teams to be less reckless given the fact that the World Cup was less than six months away.
On the incident, Bennett said:
I didn’t mean to catch him the way that I did and looking back it was a bad tackle.But I think it’s made me stronger as a player and I definitely improved as the season went on.
It’s something that I wasn’t really proud of. I didn’t realise how bad it was at the time but looking back it didn’t look great, especially with the pictures. Obviously, it was blown up a little bit. The national media, once they get hold of something it stays in the media for a few days. I apologised for it and moved on.
Bennett has started every one of the Bluebirds’ Premier League fixtures at left-back this season and is likely to keep his spot when Man City head to Cardiff tomorrow.
It remains to be seen whether Sane, who hasn’t featured heavily this season, will take to the field in South Wales.