EXCLUSIVE
FOOL
Asmir Begovic ‘an absolute disgrace’ for Ivan Toney clash and then blaming referee in Bournemouth’s bonkers play-off defeat to Brentford
Asmir Begovic was left fuming at the ‘shameful’ referees after Bournemouth crashed out of the Championship play-offs, but the goalkeeper has been branded a ‘disgrace' himself for his behaviour in the controversial clash.
Brentford came back from 2-0 down on aggregate to beat the ten-man Cherries 3-2 over the two legs to book their place at Wembley.
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Bournemouth - 1-0 winners of the first leg on the south coast - took a 2-0 aggregate lead early on after a kamikaze corner routine saw Brentford forget to leave a player back to defend a possible breakaway... which is exactly what the Cherries did as they opened the scoring.
But the Bees turned the game on its head in the second-half with two goals, after the teams went into the half-time break at 1-1 thanks to an Ivan Toney penalty and Bournemouth with ten men after Chris Mepham was sent off for practically rugby tackling a Brentford player.
Toney’s spot kick was one of many flashpoints in a fiesty game. Given for a handball that left Bournemouth fuming after the game, the striker picked up the ball and went to run it back to the centre spot after burying it past Begovic, only for the goalkeeper to make a fool of himself.
The former Premier League glovesman ran after Toney and tried to nick the ball back from him, and then rolled around on the floor after a scuffle between the pair.
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The keeper was also guilty of another embarrassing piece of play acting as he went to ground again and tried to make it out like he was bundled over by a Brentford player - but it was actually one of his own teammates.
After a 3-1 defeat on the night, losing 3-2 on aggregate, Begovic went in on the officials, saying they were not up for the occasion, while manager Jonatahan Woodgate said they buckled under the pressure with the visitors unhappy with the handball call.
talkSPORT presenter Natalie Sawyer was a bit croaky on Sunday’s Weekend Sports Breakfast after being at the Brentford Community Stadium to watch her beloved Bees book their place in the play-off final, with Premier League promotion still up for grabs.
And she couldn’t resist having a word about Begovic and his embarrassing antics.
Sawyer said: “What disappointed me was I heard Asmir Begovic talking afterwards and he was saying he couldn’t understand why the penalty was given.
“He talked about the ultimate professional Chris Mepham is and it was a split-second decision that went against him…
“By my goodness, when it came to the referee, he didn’t give him any leeway, he went in on the referee and I felt like I just wanted to say to Asmir Begovic: ‘Look at your own performance in that game yesterday!’
“You were an absolute disgrace! Time wasting, going down in the box, trying to make it seem it was a Brentford player who had knocked him over - it was his own teammates!
“So Asmir Begovic, you can come out and criticise the referee for his performance, but you should be critical of your own performance, because it was an absolute disgrace.
“Considering he is a professional, experienced goalkeeper who has played in the Premier League, I thought he was farcical.”
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