‘He could have avoided that’ – Slovakia manager opens up on Declan Rice row in fresh interview
Slovakia head coach Francesco Calzona has reignited his war of words with Declan Rice following their public feud on Sunday.
Rice became embroiled in a heated exchange with Calzona shortly after England edged Slovakia 2-1 to book their place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
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The Italian appeared to push Rice as he spoke with officials after the final whistle.
Rice was visibly incensed by Calzona’s actions and had to be pulled away from the 55-year-old.
In a post-match interview, Calzona revealed that the matter was closed after Rice had issued him with an apology.
But Calzona has now reopened the spat and held Rice responsible during an interview with Sky Sport Italia.
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“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,” Calzona said. “He shouted at me and I replied in a similar tone.
“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.”
Rice stopped short of addressing the altercation after the game instead preferring to discuss his side’s dramatic extra-time victory.
“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,” Rice said.
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“We'd do anything to protect this manager, protect each other.
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“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’s reaction was likely born out of frustration at Slovakia’s late collapse when it looked as though his side were set to pull off the tournament’s biggest shock.
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“The disappointment is huge,” Calzona told his post match press conference. “But I feel more pride than disappointment. We almost won and advanced against the world-class team. We tried very hard, we almost advanced. We failed to advance.
“In extra time, we spent half an hour in the opponent's half. I'm proud that we managed it this way and did such a great job.”
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