Cristian Romero Responds to Gary Neville's Criticism Ahead of World Cup Final
Cristian Romero didn’t wait long to answer Gary Neville. He did it first with 90 brutal, uncompromising minutes in Atlanta – and then with a few icy sentences that cut just as sharply as any tackle.
As Argentina marched into yet another World Cup final, the defender turned his fire on the former Manchester United full-back who had questioned whether Romero and Lisandro Martinez could truly be trusted at the highest level.
“The only thing that I hope for is that when I retire, I am not that stupid. Hopefully I won't criticise a player or anyone,” Romero told DSports when asked about Neville’s punditry. “Because at the end of the day, we are doing our best for our national team. Sometimes it goes right for us, sometimes badly, but we are just happy to be in a World Cup final again.”
It was a stinging rebuke, delivered without shouting, powered instead by the authority of a man who has just dragged his country to another showpiece.
Neville’s “best, worst” jibe comes back at him
Neville had lit the fuse on the Overlap Podcast. Watching Romero and Martinez dominate one week and wobble the next, he branded them “the best, worst centre-half pairing in the world.”
“They seem to give a goal away between them every single game,” Neville had said. “But you watch them, they are scoring goals, heading the ball, they're literally everywhere – it's incredible. I call them the best, worst centre-half pairing in the world. Because they absolutely at times can be unbelievable, but the next, it's the sublime to the ridiculous.”
That line has followed the pair all season in the Premier League. In Atlanta, it fuelled them.
Romero played on the edge, as always. He celebrated in Jordan Pickford’s face. He stared down Jude Bellingham at full-time. Every duel, every clearance, every roar towards the stands felt like a running argument with his critics.
Martinez stood squarely behind him, on and off the pitch.
“We're used to people always talking about us. It seems like they like doing it, and we respond on the pitch, that's it, always with respect,” the Manchester United defender said amid the celebrations, his message as firm as any sliding challenge.
Scaloni’s band of brothers
This is not a thin-skinned group. It is a squad that feeds off doubt.
Lionel Scaloni, voice cracking with emotion, framed the night not as a response to pundits but as a testament to something deeper inside his team. Argentina had been rocked by a second-half goal from Anthony Gordon, yet they came back through Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez to turn the semi-final on its head.
“My voice is breaking because this is a demonstration of so many things: team spirit, brotherhood, never giving up, fighting until the very end,” Scaloni said afterwards. “After this, we're going to win the final, but what more does this team have to do? They have moved me deeply. I don't have much more to say; it's all thanks to them.”
No swagger, no chest-beating about superiority. Instead, a manager talking about bonds, about resilience, about a group that seems to grow stronger every time someone on the outside questions them.
The so-called arrogance? Scaloni batted that away. To him, this is not a circus act of taunts and gestures. It is a collective that thrives with its back pressed against the wall.
Fire, steel and a date with Spain
Romero’s performance against England encapsulated that edge. He played right on the line, sometimes over it, but always with a clear purpose: to impose himself, to set a tone, to show that this Argentina will not be bullied by anyone.
His confrontations with Pickford and Bellingham were not isolated flashes. They were the visible face of the same mentality Scaloni praised – a refusal to yield, a refusal to be defined by anyone else’s narrative.
Now comes Spain. A final dripping with history and quality, and the chance for Argentina to defend their crown and stitch a fourth star above the badge.
“I think we are making history, for us it is something really huge, and we feel the significance of this shirt like no-one else,” Romero said, the scale of the moment cutting through the noise.
The Albiceleste head to New Jersey for Sunday’s showpiece, a team hardened by criticism and energised by it, one win away from cementing an era.
England, beaten and bruised again on the world stage, must turn towards a third-place play-off against France. Argentina turn towards Spain and the possibility of another star, another chapter, another night for Romero and Martinez to decide whether they are the “best, worst” pairing in the world – or simply the ones holding the trophy.
