Slovakia manager lifts lid on Declan Rice clash with scathing England review

Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona has confessed he got into a war of words with midfielder Declan Rice after England's dramatic victory on Sunday evening.

With the Three Lions celebrating late strikes from Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, Rice ended up in a furious confrontation with Calzona and a number of Slovakia players, with the Arsenal midfielder eventually being dragged away from the incident.

The clash appeared to stem from both Rice and Calzona trying to speak to the referee after the game, with the Slovakia boss trying to play down any tensions between the Arsenal midfielder and his staff.

"Rice was supposed to go to the referees and say goodbye and then leave," Calzona said after the game.

"I had to speak to the referees and he was carrying on, continuing to speak. Then he apologised and it all ended there."

Calzona was less than impressed by England's overall showing and insisted Slovakia deserved to qualify for the Euro 2024 quarter-finals at the expense of the Three Lions.

"The lads worked so hard and followed what I asked of them to the letter," Calzona said. "We allowed [England] a bit more in the second half, but that was to be expected against a team of this level.

"In extra time, it was one-way traffic, we pinned them back and they relied on time-wasting and obstructionism. I was angry because one extra minute of stoppages with the amount of time-wasting especially from their goalkeeper was not enough.

"I did not like the performance of the referees at all, but we certainly didn't lose because of that. We lost because of a couple of distractions, but clearly I am very proud of my team as we played positive football, put in a great performance and I think the people of Slovakia will be proud of that.

"We knew that we could not leave space between the lines, we all know what Bellingham can do and had to keep it tight. We had the chances in the first half to kill off the game and it would’ve changed everything.

"It is a source of pride to force a team like England to focus only on defending in extra time. That means they were scared of us and in my view we deserved to go through."

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