Football
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Hector Moreno is 'not a butcher,' says Hans Kraay Jr.

PSV Eindhoven defender Hector Moreno is "not a butcher," despite being accused of making two aggressive tackles less than a week apart, says former Eredivisie player-turned-coach Hans Kraay Jr.

The Mexico international was involved in another controversial incident during PSV's 2-1 defeat at Heracles this past Saturday, going unpunished for a late challenge on Oussama Tannane to be replaced with 15 minutes to go.

Moreno broke the right leg of Manchester United defender Shaw in a collision during the Dutch side's 2-1 Champions league victory last Tuesday.

Tannane criticised the Mexican for his latest tackle as well as the incident with Shaw.

"He came with his outstretched leg on to my knee. If that's not a card, I don't know what is," the Daily Mail reported Tannane as telling De Telegraaf.

"I do not know if it was conscious, but he was just too late. I thought it was a disgraceful offence. Moreno also knows what he did last week."

But Kraay Jr., who is well remembered for his aggressive tackles, defended the 27-year-old centre-back and said he thought the Shaw tackle was fair play but admitted the Tannane incident was more dubious.

"It is just bad luck that he has now injured two opponents in this time," Kraay Jr. told Dutch paper De Telegraaf. "We shouldn't all of a sudden see him as a butcher from Spain. He isn't. In the three and a half years that he was with AZ, Moreno showed himself to be a tough, but fair defender and on the basis of these two incidents he doesn't deserve this label.

"That tackle [with Shaw] was 100 percent masculine and a fair tackle. It was just that [Luke] fell wrong and bad luck played an important role.

"Where I can see a problem is in the match against Heracles. That was studs up and you can't have that in a game. The incident with Tannane was worse, but of course more attention was drawn in the media to the first injury because it was against Manchester United and there were serious consequences."

Kraay Jr. said he remembers his own incidents and admitted being sorry for some of the injuries caused while he was playing.

"Fortunately I never broke another player's leg. As far as that is concerned, I have been lucky," he said.

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