Italian journalist Tancredi Palmeri has hit back after Kevin De Bruyne called him ‘stupid’ for bringing up Belgium’s so-called ‘golden generation’ in the wake of their Euro 2024 exit, saying the midfielder should have been brave enough to say the insult to his face.
France beat Belgium to a quarter-final spot thanks to a late own goal from Jan Vertonghen on Monday evening, ensuring the Red Devils’ long wait for silverware at a major tournament goes on.
Belgium have repeatedly underachieved despite boasting the likes of Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Thibaut Courtois, Vincent Kompany and Dries Mertens in recent years – and the disappointment was etched on the faces of Domenico Tedesco’s players in Dusseldorf.
De Bruyne was given the unenviable task of facing the media following Belgium’s painful defeat and the Manchester City star was less than impressed with the line of questioning he came up against.
In particular, De Bruyne took exception to a question from journalist Palmeri regarding the latest disappointing showing by what has widely been labelled Belgium’s ‘golden generation’.
‘Does it hurt that the golden generation didn’t achieve a final once again,’ Palmeri asked De Bruyne.
‘And you say that France and England and Spain and Germany is not a golden generation?’ De Bruyne responded, before and muttering, ‘Stupid’, and making his way off the stage.
"Stupid": Kevin De Bruyne angry after a question about his "golden generation" who didn't win anything #belgium #frabel #euro2024 pic.twitter.com/7z7bOzsbh1
— JS Grond-Tran (@JS_Grond) July 1, 2024
Reacting to a clip of the exchange on X, Palmeri called De Bruyne a ‘spoiled brat’ and reminded the midfielder that the teams he named had all reached a final at one point or another.
‘Hey Kevin, little memo for you: the golden generation you mentioned of France, England, Germany and Spain they ALL REACHED A FINAL!’ he said.
‘Usual footballer that wants only question telling him how good they are. Spoiled brat.’
Speaking later with talkSPORT, Palmeri revealed that he was unaware De Bruyne had insulted him until he was told by fellow journalists that a video of their exchange was going viral.
‘He didn’t say it to my face that I was stupid. He said it just when he turned his face from the other side when walking out off the podium,’ Palmeri explained.
‘In fact, I was then sitting in the media cafe watching Portugal v Slovenia and I heard Mexican colleagues next to my table saying, “You are becoming viral?”, and I said, “For what?”, and they said: “Because Kevin De Bruyne called you stupid!”.
‘I said, “When did he call me stupid? I was in front of him!”, and then there was the reverse angle, like VAR, or journalists from the other side.’
Palmeri argued that De Bruyne’s use of the word ‘stupid’ to describe him says more about the player’s character than his own.
‘I wish he had said it to my face. Let’s see what I could reply to that,’ he added.
‘To be honest, everybody is entitled to have their own opinion.
‘Obviously, nobody is entitled to offend others and I always think the offence is the pronounced is defining the person that is pronouncing it, not the person that is receiving it.
De Bruyne had earlier defended Belgium’s defensive approach against France and Didier Deschamps’ wealth of talent in the attacking areas of the pitch.
‘We had a plan, we executed it well. With the quality of France, we knew we wouldn’t have possession. We had moments to be dangerous. It’s a shame to concede the goal like that, but that’s football.
‘A mistake in our game plan? When you give France a lot of space, it’s very difficult to defend [Antoine] Griezmann, [Kylian] Mbappe or [Marcus] Thuram one-on-one. That’s why we decided to drop back a bit.
‘We didn’t concede many chances. It was a good plan until five minutes from the end.’