JACK GREALISH has hit back at claims he taunted Fluminense stars in the Club World Cup final as he became public enemy No1 in Rio.
Veteran former Juventus defender Felipe Melo, 40, was dragged off Kyle Walker as he attempted to get to Grealish at the final whistle in the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Melo claimed City’s Grealish had been taking the mickey out of team-mate Martinelli in the 4-0 mauling.
The oldest outfield player in the final called Grealish a coward for ducking the challenge and not facing him man to man.
Melo said: “When the game ended, Grealish went after Martinelli. He chose a little guy. He has no balls to face a big one.
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“Grealish was passing close to Martinelli and I saw them talking, forehead to forehead, so I went after him. I pushed him. Walker pushed me, too. I went to defend a team-mate.”
Melo added: “I defended my institution. I will do this forever. No one will disrespect my institution or its athletes. No one will come and humiliate my friends or my club.
“I didn't want a mess. Grealish was disrespectful towards the Fluminense institution and I will never let that happen.
“He was shouting "ole" at the end of the game. This is something that the fans can do, not a player - an athlete on the field cannot be disrespectful.
“I went to defend Martinelli, who was being cornered by this athlete. And I would do it again. I am a warrior. Nobody can ever crow with a rooster.”
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Martinelli backed up his team-mate, although he admitted he had no idea what Grealish was saying to him.
The midfielder, 22, said: "I didn't understand what he said, everything was in English.
“I wanted him to be sent to hell because he was talking aggressively to me.
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“I did not talk to him at all, so why he had to come and tease me?
“That's football, the guy is really also disrespectful during the game. But it's football, life that goes on. He’s just a bad sportsman.”
Grealish was made aware of the allegations shortly before City’s flight back to Manchester - delayed by a torrential, post-match downpour that turned the motorways into lakes - took off.
The England star, who left the stadium surrounded by a protective army of team-mates including Erling Haaland, said on X, formerly Twitter: “Not once did I say ‘ole’.’”
But his alleged behaviour was castigated by other Fluminense players, including former Real Madrid legend Marcelo, who said: “Everyone does what they want when playing.
“All I will say about Grealish is that he has won this competition once - and I have won it four times. I would never act like that.”
And Colombian Jhon Arias added: “Grealish was very bad. After the fourth goal he started saying 'ole' and making fun of us.
“This is simply not sportsmanship. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you have to be a man at all times and he lacked a man’s behaviour.
“You can't do that after scoring a fourth goal. It’s no surprise it didn't sit well with Felipe Melo - you know what his temper is like.”
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