Slovakia Manager Clarifies Heated Exchange with Declan Rice
Following England’s 2-1 triumph over Slovakia at Euro 2024 in Gelsenkirchen, a heated incident occurred between England’s Declan Rice and Slovakia’s manager Francesco Calzona. Calzona later explained that Rice apologized after their confrontation.
The clash happened post-match when Calzona seemed to shove Rice after England’s comeback win, with goals from Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane overturning Ivan Schranz’s early lead for Slovakia. According to lipreader Jeremy Freeman, Rice allegedly responded to Calzona with, “Shut up, p***y, oi, shut up, you bald ****,” after Calzona rushed onto the pitch to address the referee.
Calzona explained that he was upset with England’s time-wasting in extra time and wanted to discuss it with the referees. “Rice was supposed to go to the referees and leave,” he said. “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.”
Rice did not address the incident directly in his post-match comments, choosing instead to commend his team’s resilience. “There’s that inner fight and spirit in us [that] a few Slovakian players before the game said that we didn’t have,” he said. “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.”
Additionally, Jude Bellingham had to clarify a misunderstanding about his goal celebration. Social media rumors suggested he made a rude gesture towards the Slovakian bench, which he denied, stating it was an inside joke with friends in the stands. Bellingham responded on X, saying: “(yawn emoji and red cross emoji) An inside joke gesture towards some close friends who were at the game. Nothing but respect for how that Slovakia team played tonight (handshake emoji).”
