Declan Rice was pushed by Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona (ITV)
Declan Rice called Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona a ‘bald c***’ in the aftermath of England’s last-gasp win at Euro 2024 on Sunday.
Gareth Southgate’s side narrowly avoided a major upset as they looked on the brink of a 1-0 defeat to Slovakia before Jude Bellingham equalised in the 94th minute of injury time.
Harry Kane then headed England in front in the first minute of extra time which sealed a 2-1 win for the Three Lions, who will now play Switzerland in the Euro 2024 quarter final on July 6.
Rice, meanwhile, was involved in a heated altercation with Calzona moments after the full time whistle.
After approaching referee Umut Meler, Calzona pushed Rice in the chest before continuing to speak with the Turkish official.
Rice reacted angrily to Calzona before England striker Ivan Tony and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale stepped in to pull the Arsenal midfielder away from the confrontation.
Speaking to MailOnline, expert lip-reader Jeremy Freeman revealed that Rice said to Calzone: ‘Shut up, p***, oi, shut up, you bald c***.’
When asked about the incident involving Rice, Calzona said: ‘Rice was supposed to go to the referees and say goodbye and then leave.
‘I had to speak to the referees and he was carrying on, continuing to speak. Then he apologised and it all ended there.’
England will play Switzerland in the Euro 2024 quarter final on July 6 (Getty)
ENGLAND’S ROUTE TO EURO 2024 FINAL
QUARTER FINAL – July 6 at 5pm
England vs Switzerland
SEMI FINAL – July 10 at 8pm
England vs Romania, Netherlands, Austria or Turkey
FINAL – July 14 at 8pm
England vs Germany, Spain, Georgia, Portugal, Slovenia, France or Belgium
After the match, Calzona also revealed that he was unhappy with the referee for his failure to punish England’s time-wasting in the closing stages of extra time.
‘We probably should have been more aggressive in terms of man-marking but this is how things went, I accept that,’ Calzona said.
‘What I don’t accept is one minute of stoppage time with their goalkeeper [Jordan Pickford] wasting a whole lot of time.
‘I didn’t like the refereeing, I absolutely did not like that. I didn’t like the way the three officials behaved, they were always coming to our bench, they ignored the other bench, I really did not appreciate this but this is not why we lost.
‘I’m proud of my team. If we had been not so attentive all the time that’s something I will review when I watch the match tomorrow but I must congratulate all my players.
‘The only thing I didn’t appreciate is that the way England were obstructing, were wasting time, was not punished.’
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