I’d slap him, says Sredojevic over Zungu broadside

Milutin Sredojevic would have slapped Bongani Zungu if the Bafana Bafana midfielder was one of his former players and had made the inflammatory comments he posted on Twitter a few days ago, the Orlando Pirates coach said.

Zungu‚ a former Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder who now plays for Amiens in Ligue 1 in France‚ controversially took to Twitter last week and insinuated that Pirates assistant coach Rulani Mokwena was the real boss at the premiership league leaders.

The comment suggested that Sredojevic was not the brains behind Pirates’ impressive start to the season and it was in fact his close friend, Mokwena, who deserved the credit.

Zungu also suggested in the same tweet that Mokwena had a greater – if not similar – influence at former club Sundowns where he served as head coach Pitso Mosimane’s assistant before moving to Pirates at the start of last season.

The tweet sparked furious reaction and Zungu eventually backed down after intense pressure‚ apologising on the same social media platform he had used to make the controversial comments.

‘‘If a player that I made . . . Nemanja Matic [for an example] has done [what Zungu did] to any coach‚ I would personally slap him.” Zungu’s comments put Sredojevic under immense pressure and he felt it necessary to also confirm that he was totally in charge at Pirates.

“But if someone else does this‚ as I told you it’s not important‚ but I really know that I’m in charge as a head coach [at Pirates]‚” Sredojevic said.

“I know that I have a very strong team that is led by me and assistant coach Rhulani and I am happy with those things. Regretfully, this is what has happened.

“I will just say it has been unfortunate and you know‚ personally, I believe that it has passed and it’s gone.

‘‘Everyone has a right to his opinion. Let the football talk instead of us.”

Pirates played to an emotional goalless draw against Sundowns on Saturday but remain at the premiership summit after second-placed Bidvest Wits suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat to Bloemfontein Celtic later in the day. – TimesLIVE

Zungu’s comments put Sredojevic under immense pressure and he felt it necessary to also confirm that he is ‘totally’ in charge at Pirates