Middlesbrough vs Aston Villa - Tony Pulis calls on referees to protect Adama Traore in play-offs - 7M sport

Middlesbrough vs Aston Villa - Tony Pulis calls on referees to protect Adama Traore in play-offs



Posted Friday, May 11, 2018 by PA

Middlesbrough vs Aston Villa - Tony Pulis calls on referees to protect Adama Traore in play-offs

Middlesbrough boss Tony Pulis has urged referees to protect Adama Traore as he attempts to fire the club back into the Premier League.

The mercurial 22-year-old winger will line up against former club Aston Villa at the Riverside Stadium in the first leg of the Sky Bet Championship play-off semi-final on Saturday evening with his manager calling for those who attempt to target him illegally to suffer the consequences.

Pulis, who will field an unchanged team, said: “Adama needs protection in both games, without a question of a doubt.

“He’s been so good in the games leading up to it and we have found early on that he has been targeted.

“There have been free-kicks given against him and because it’s early in the game, people haven’t been dealt with the way they should have been dealt with, and that is disappointing.

“We’ve brought in all these rules to protect people. Well, I think the boy needs protection at times.”

Bobby Madley will take charge at the Riverside and Mike Dean when the sides reconvene at Villa Park on Tuesday evening, and Pulis is expecting both games to be tight as he goes head-to-head with old foe Steve Bruce once again.

He will hope for better fortunes than his most memorable brush with the play-offs when his Gillingham side fell victim to a remarkable Manchester City comeback in the League One final at Wembley in May 1999.

He said: “We get beat by penalties in a game that Man City were never in. That was one of my big disappointments, not so much for myself, but for my players because that group of players at Priestfield were fabulous.”

Villa boss Bruce, who will go into the game still mourning the deaths of both his parents inside three months, will have midfielder Birkir Bjarnason available after a back problem, but is likely to be without Neil Taylor and Axel Tuanzebe.

The former Manchester United defender told his press conference: “When any big couple of games come up, you have to realise that’s what we are in it for. It’s better that than finishing 13th last year and we’re all packing up to go on our holidays.

“It was always the aim, can we be there or thereabouts? We are. We have got ourselves into the play-offs, we’ve got ourselves in a good position, difficult opposition to play against, obviously, but a big couple of semi-finals to try to get over.

“If we can achieve and be successful, as I have said many times, it’s a great way to go up.”



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