Ian Wright was left red faced when his praise of Juan Mata came back to haunt him.
Arsenal legend Wright talked up the Spaniard ahead of Manchester United's FA Cup quarter-final clash with Norwich.
On the BBC he said: "I do like him. He's 32, I think he's only had about eight league starts this season, 20 in all.
"He's just that kind of player that without the crowd he's probably one of those calming influences, quality player and obviously when you look at someone like [Bruno] Fernandes and the way he plays, they'll definitely complement each other with the way they can open this team up today."
But United struggled to get the better of Norwich on Saturday, needing extra time to see off the 10 men to book their place in the semi-final.
And Mata was off the pace at Carrow Road before he was replaced by Mason Greenwood on the hour mark.
After the match, Gary Lineker reminded Wright of his positive comments about Mata.
Lineker said: "We talked about a couple of players prior to the game, Juan Mata you bigged up. I think you jinxed him."
Wright, admitting he put the 'commentator's curse' on the Spaniard, replied: "I jinxed him. That's the worst I've seen him play!"
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