Andrea Pirlo has taken a surprise swipe at Divock Origi, branding the striker’s Champions League final appearance as ‘awful’.
Origi was a second-half substitute on Saturday night as he came off the bench for Liverpool to replace Roberto Firmino in attack.
The forward then repaid the faith put into him by manager Jurgen Klopp by scoring the Reds’ second goal in their 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur with just three minutes to play.
Yet Pirlo saw fit to hit out at the attitude shown by the Belgian during his 32 minutes on the pitch at the Wanda Metropolitano.
“Divock Origi was awful,” the Italian said on Sky Sport Italia. “He came on in such an important game with that attitude. If he hadn’t scored, they should’ve given him a kicking.”
Origi scored with his only shot on Saturday night and completed just four of the eight passes he attempted. He contested two duels but lost them both and did not contribute defensively, failing to make a tackle, clearance, block or interception during his 32 minutes on the pitch.
The striker netted three goals in Liverpool’s successful Champions League campaign but didn’t score his first two until the semi-final against Barcelona. Origi was drafted in following an injury crisis in attack but helped Liverpool come from 3-0 down on aggregate to defeat Barcelona 4-3 - scoring two goals on the night.
His late contribution in Madrid on Saturday came after Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool the lead over Spurs with a second-minute penalty.
