- Francesco Calzona was seen pushing Rice in the chest after full time.
- England 2-1 Slovakia LIVE: Follow all the reactions to the tense victory of the Three Lions
Declan Rice was involved in a heated altercation with Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona after England won 2-1 after extra time to reach the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
Television footage captured Calzona pushing Rice after approaching referee Umut Meler after the final whistle.
The England star took offence and was seen gesturing angrily and hurling insults at Calzona before being pulled away by Ivan Toney.
Rice was then seen telling the Slovakian coaches and substitutes to “shut up” while Toney and Ezri Konsa removed him from the situation.
The incident came after England survived a major scare when Jude Bellingham scored a dramatic 95th-minute equalizer before Harry Kane headed the winning goal less than a minute into extra time.
Declan Rice was seen shouting and gesticulating towards Slovak coach Francesco Calzona
A visibly angry Rice was seen telling the Slovak coaches and substitutes to “shut up”
The victory set up a meeting with Switzerland, which beat Italy 2-0, in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
It is unclear what irritated Calzona and prompted him to speak to the referee after the final whistle blew.
He pushed Rice in the chest and could be seen directing words at the 25-year-old.
Konsa, Toney and substitute goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale then tried to calm the situation by coming to the defence of their English counterpart.
England were abject throughout the game in Gelsenkirchen after falling behind in the 25th minute thanks to a fine shot from Ivan Schranz.
They had to wait until late in the game to equalise, as Bellingham’s magical and acrobatic moment saved them from embarrassment and preserved their place in the tournament.
Bellingham’s magnificent bicycle kick brought about a change when Kane headed towards goal in the first minute of the extra 30 minutes.
England then managed to secure a vital victory that allowed them to advance to the quarter-finals and keep Gareth Southgate in his job.
“Sweet Caroline doesn’t sound very sweet,” Gary Neville said. “I mean the key word is relief. We’ve been very, very lucky and we should thank our good fortune and look up and thank everything because we’ve been sad.
‘We’ve had four very bad games and we didn’t even play particularly well in extra time. We had to face Slovakia, who were unlucky in the end.
“We have to change something radically now. I’m happy for Gareth. We all know him in the studio, he’s a great guy, he has great integrity, but tonight he will realize that he was very close to the edge. Very close to the edge.”