It has been reported that Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian insists he wasn’t seeking to wind-up Aston Villa rival Micah Richards last month.
Darmian was thought to be playing the classic ‘you’ve got something on your face’ prank with the former England international by way of distracting him.
However, the Italian international has finally discussed the matter and revealed he was only trying to tell Richards he was bleeding.
He told MUTV: “With Micah, it was said I tried to distract him at the corner and I saw a video came out where they were saying I was pointing to his face to put him off.
“However, it was because he had a cut on his face and I was trying to tell him it was bleeding. That is what it was all about.
“The journalists jumped on the incident a bit but, at the end of the game, we shook hands and it was all fine. I certainly never called him soft if he thought that!”