Last night as Chelsea once again fell out of the Champions League at the hands of PSG, Belgian winger Eden Hazard sparked outrage on social media by doing the unthinkable... Swapping jerseys at half time with an opponent.
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Angel Di Maria was the player Hazard simply couldn't wait to trade jerseys with, but while some couldn't care less what professional players do with their gear, others were seriously unimpressed, and Damien Duff would fall into the latter category as he revealed to Matt Cooper of Today FM.
In fact, Duffer even explained that at Euro 2012 an Irish player swapped shirts with a Spanish player at half-time which resulted in most of the team talk being dedicated to a discussion on whether or not that was acceptable.
I didn't realise [Hazard] did that, but if I was his manager...
He's probably pining for a move to PSG, but yeah I remember it happened a couple of years ago under Mourinho. [Paulo] Ferreira did it with Ronaldinho at half-time and he took him off, straight away, and I'd be singing off the same hymn sheet there to be fair.
No, I'd never do it at half-time. One of our guys did it in the Spain game in Poland in 2012. We were losing 2-0 at half-time going in, so I wasn't happy with that, and probably most of the half time team talk was me arguing whether it was right or wrong to be swapping your jersey, so I'm not a fan, no.
Duffer wouldn't reveal the identity of who the player in question was despite probes from Cooper, but it doesn't really matter.
Half-time is never an acceptable time to swap jerseys with an opponent, there is still a game to be played and a job to be done. Say for example Di Maria went in two footed on Hazard in the second half, would he have wanted his shirt then?
It suggests that you are just there for the occasion, and that is something that will infuriate the fans and your own teammates too.
You can listen to Duff's chat with Matt Cooper over on Today FM's website.
SEE ALSO: Twitter Reacts As Eden Hazard Commits One Of The Most Contemptible Acts On A Pitch
Picture credit: David Maher / SPORTSFILE
