Monday, 25th November, 2013
Everton forward Kevin Mirallas has defended his challenge on Liverpool's Luis Suarez in the weekend's Merseyside derby, claiming such tackles occur in the heat of a derby clash and explaining Suarez himself injured two players last season.
Mirallas left Liverpool fans furious after a challenge on Suarez which saw the Uruguayan's thigh hurt, with Reds boss Brendan Rodgers explaining post-match that he felt the Belgian should have been sent off.
But the former Olympiacos man has defended his tackle on Suarez, telling Het Nieuwsblad: "It is normal that the Liverpool supporters thought I deserved red.
"I thought I played the ball, but at the last moment, he put his thigh there.
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"In derbies there are always such tackles. Last season, Suarez injured two players, including me. I was out for two weeks."
The thrilling derby ended 3-3 at Goodison Park, an end-to-end affair which Mirallas believes was "crazy".
"It was a crazy game that reminds me of last year when we came back from 2-0 down to 2-2."
Mirallas scored Everton's first goal of the game.
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