Slovakia boss blames Declan Rice for heated confrontation

Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona has blamed Declan Rice for their spat on Sunday, pouring fresh fuel on the fire of their confrontation. 

Calzona shoved Rice in the chest while England’s stars held their team-mate back in a furious fracas following England’s 2-1 win over Slovakia at Euro 2024. 

The Slovakia boss had stormed on to the pitch to confront referee Umut Meler about the Three Lions’ time-wasting and Rice tried to intervene.

A lip-reading maestro exclusively told Mail Sport that Rice said ‘shut up, p***y, oi, shut up, you bald ****’ – and now the manager has hit back. 

‘Rice was standing close to the referees, I wanted to ask the reason for the lack of added time considering the time-wasting done by the English, he shouted at me and I replied in a similar tone,’ he told Sky Sport Italia via Tutto Mercato. 

‘He is a great player, perhaps he shouldn’t have been there acting like a bodyguard for the referee.

‘He could’ve avoided that, but he did apologise to me straight after that.’ 

The Three Lions needed a late, late, extra-late show to salvage their Euro 2024 hopes against Slovakia in Gelsenkirchen.

After Ivan Schranz gave the smaller nation a lead in the 25th minute, it took until the 95th for Jude Bellingham to produce a sublime scissor kick to equalise, with some England fans having already left as hopes ebbed away.

Harry Kane scored a header almost immediately in extra-time and England clung on from there to make the last eight of a fourth consecutive major tournament. 

Calzona had stormed on the pitch to confront referee Meler about time-wasting, but Rice tried to intervene and speak to him.

When he did so, the Slovakia boss reacted aggressively by shoving the Arsenal midfielder in the chest. Another member of his coaching staff also pushed the England star away.

Rice, who was seemingly telling Calzona not to bother speaking to the match officials, was left livid by the incident and had to be held back by team-mates Ivan Toney, Aaron Ramsdale and Ezri Konsa as they tried to defuse the situation.

‘Rice was supposed to go to the referees and leave,’ Calzona said in the immediate aftermath.

‘I had to speak to the refs and he wasn’t leaving, he carried on. But then he apologised and it was all fine. I didn’t like the way the England team were wasting time and not punished.’ 

Tensions were already high before the game, with Rice hitting out at some of the Slovakia players in his press conference.

The England star, who did not address the altercation, said: ‘There’s that inner fight and spirit in us [that] a few Slovakian players before the game said that we didn’t have. We’ve got that togetherness, we proved that tonight.

‘We’d do anything to protect this manager, protect each other.

‘We’ll keep going and keep fighting and what we’ve got as a group tonight showed out there. It’s an honour to be a part of it and we’re going to give it everything.’

Calzona is proud of what his side achieved, though they failed to beat England at the seventh time of asking.

‘Generally speaking I’m satisfied, even if there is regret because we were close to making history for this country,’ he said. 

‘We were a minute and a half away… but I’m proud of the lads. In the 29 minutes of extra-time we kept England in their half of the pitch and that’s a source of pride.’