Former England star reveals why he owes Mikel Obi an apology

The former England star is apologising for what he describes as the worst tackle of his career

Former Liverpool attacker, Peter Crouch has apologised to former Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel for the dangerous tackle he had on him many years ago.

Crouch, speaking on BBC 5 Live Sport podcast said his tackle on Mikel, although difficult to accept at the time, felt like “three red cards” when he sees it again.

The former Stoke City star had also gone on tirades at the time and said Mikel went down ‘like he’d been shot’

He also said at the time that foreign players had brought so much to the Premier League but local players wouldn't have reacted the way Mikel did.

What Crouch said at the time

“What I'm thinking is if you go in on Frank Lampard or John Terry, would they roll around like Obi Mikel did? I don't think they would have done.

“Would someone like Carra have gone down like that? I think it's safe to say he wouldn't.

“Foreign players have brought a lot to our game, but that's something you don't want to see.

“I didn't catch Mikel but he went down like he'd been shot, ” Crouch said at the time.

What Crouch has said now

“The worst tackle I ever did was on Obi Mikel. Liverpool against Chelsea in the Carling Cup.

“The whole game I've been receiving balls and he's been basically told to mark in front of me. So the centre-half is behind me, and him and, here.

“And he's basically standing all over my toes and I'm trying to chest things away and he's putting his head in my face and his elbows around me all game.

“I've been telling the ref all game, all game, all game and I’m getting nothing. We're about 70 minutes in now and it’s been going on all game.

“And it's happened again and the ball has broken off and another one of these elbows and things he's done to me – the ball’s broke there just posted perfectly and he's facing the stand and obviously I've switched, lost the plot and tried to take him out basically.

“But I'm not proud of this, if he's listening to this, which I think in no way he’ll be John Obi Mikel, I’d to apologise because the red mist was that… it was like an outer body experience.

“After the game, I thought he'd dived! Afterwards I got back, and I thought I'll have a look back at that tackle. I had a look and I thought, oh no! (laughs). That's in fact three red cards!

“What on earth was I thinking. It's just something that I can't explain. He’d been winding up the entire game and now I just completely lost it.”

Crouch had also blamed referee Martin Atkinson for not taking good time to assess the situation but more than fourteen years since it happened, it’s a good time to say sorry.