Everton player sticks up for his extraordinary teammate – Insists criticism unfair

Everton midfielder Amadou Onana has moved to defend Belgium teammate Jeremy Doku after his error in his country’s 1-0 defeat to Slovakia.

The Everton star has been speaking to the press today and moved to defend the 22-year-old, who was very much the focus of criticism after the shock defeat on Monday.

Slovakia’s win is the undoubted shock result of Euro 2024 so far, with Ivan Schranz’s goal proving to be the difference between the two sides in their Group E encounter.

Doku was an unwilling, and unwitting participant in that goal, with a misjudged decision to dribble with the ball deep in his own half seeing him then misplace a pass into his own box which handed the ball to Slovakia, who eventually put it in the back of the net.

It naturally led to criticism, particularly as Belgium, who were the favourites for the game, ended up eventually losing after seeing two goals disallowed.

The Everton midfielder played the full 90 minutes, unlike Doku who was substituted off in the second half and is having none of the criticism being aimed at the Manchester City man.

“He cannot be blamed,” he insisted.

“You win together, you lose together, this is a collective sport. He is and remains an ‘extraordinaire’.

“What he shows offensively – that intensity in his dribbling – not many can do that. He just has to keep doing what he always does.”