Make no excuse for keeping us entertained

VIOLINS, hankies and onions at the ready, please, as we pity poor David Pizarro.

After losing 2-0 to Manchester United in the Champions’ League last week, the Roma midfielder made an ill-judged bid for the sympathy vote when, in essence, he accused Cristiano Ronaldo of being too big for his boots.

“He is very arrogant,” whimpered Pizarro. “He does certain spiteful things on the pitch. This is the ugliest thing for a player. In the return leg I will have something to say to him.” And lest we might have thought that Pizarro was talking about diving or some such, Bruno Conti, a 1982 World Cup winner with Italy and now a Roma director, clarified the criticism. “It’s tiresome to see certain things,” he said, “such as making fun of opponents; there are champions who behave differently.”