The Claudio Bravo and Arturo Vidal fall out continues to be a theme in the Chilean media.
Whenever one of the men is interviewed there’s a very good chance the supposed feud between the pair will be brought up.
It all dates back to Chile’s difficult World Cup qualifying campaign and subsequent failure to make it to the tournament in Russia.
After the failure, the wife of Manchester City’s back-up goalkeeper, as well as his mother-law, made public comments about certain players in the squad and their lack of professionalism.
Vidal wasn’t named but the entire country knew who was being talked about and it created an awkward situation. Then Bravo withdrew from the next Chile squad, angry that the man he’d wanted as goalkeeping coach hadn’t been taken on.
It’s been a soap opera, and the City player missed the last international break as well.
Appearing at an event in his home country, a camp which Bravo helps run to give youngsters better chances in life, he was asked about the situation.
La Tercera quote Bravo as saying: “It’s not the time to talk about that. We are fully engaged in an activity. It is best to talk about this, about children, about the future, about growth and not to get stuck in silly things. It is not the healthiest or the most logical. I’ve already talked a lot about the national team, everyone has talked too much about the issue and the national team never goes through one or two players, but rather it goes through a great deal of things.
“We have to give time to the situation. It is not the time to talk. My head is full of this activity and we have to take more advantage of that than to look for controversy. What we have to do is contribute by doing this, be present with the children and give them tools to make them better people in all areas of life.”
That’s all nice and everything from the Manchester City player, but until this Vidal feud is over and Bravo returns to the national team, there’s going to be an ongoing soap opera.
