South Korea's Lee Young-Pyo has been left regretting comments that Portugal's world player of the year Luis Figo asked him to take it easy during their World Cup clash last week.
Some newspapers interpreted the remarks as an illicit approach but Lee said Tuesday "I never expected all this fuss" about a light-hearted remark.
South Korea won the Group D match 1-0 to secure their qualification for the second round and send Portugal crashing out of the event.
Lee said that as the two were walking back for the second half, Figo had gestured to him to "take it easy." The South Korean had effectively marked Figo out of the game in the first half.
But some newspapers quoted Lee as having said that Figo had urged him to "play it easy for a draw".
Figo was seen distraught after his side became the latest big name victims to crash out. And had the match ended in a draw, South Korea and Portugal would have qualified for the second round.
"I never expected this kind of fuss. All that Figo did was lightheartedly gesture to me not to tackle him too harshly," Lee told journalists.
"I am afraid I might have unintentionally added insult to injury to Portugal and Figo."
Lee revealed the encounter with Figo at a dinner table with colleagues but he said today his remarks "snowballed" to become that Figo asked him to play for a draw.
AFP