It wasn’t enough to concede a goal in the 95th minute when the bottle of champagne was already ready to be uncorked to celebrate a historic achievement like the quarter-finals of the European Championships for Slovakia, nor some refereeing decisions that made him furious: Ciccio Calzona’s bad night at Euro2024 was also peppered with rude gestures and insults from the English playersIn terms of fair play, the end of the match and the post-match were one to forget.
Bellingham’s rude gesture
It all started when everything seemed over. It was the 95th minute when Bellingham made a feat to equalize the initial goal by Schranz’s Slovakia, taking the game to extra time. His joy was understandable, but his outburst was less so: the Real Madrid talent first put a hand in front of his mouth and then repeatedly in front of his lower abdomen, staring at someone on the sidelines and then at the rival bench.
Rice’s insults to Calzona
It was just a taste of what was to come at the end of the match, however, when, in the midst of the tension and adrenaline of a game lost on the gong, Calzona went into the middle of the field to ask referee Meler for clarification. A brawl ensued with Declan Rice, who thundered against the former Napoli coach with phrases that were anything but nice. First he went soft, saying: “Shut up”, then, while his teammates Ivan Toney and Ezri Konsa were trying to hold him back, he exaggerated by shouting at Calzona: bald c***’ ‘Shut up, p***y, oi, shut up, you bald c*** as revealed by the Daily Mail. Namely: “cog…bald, bald as s.., fro…”.
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The player’s apologies to the coach and Calzona’s bitterness
Everything was resolved with Rice’s apologies, who after the tension went to the coach and shook his hand while the Slovakia coach complained to the referee at the end of the match: “We conceded a bit in the second half, but it was predictable with a team of this level. Then in extra time we played to one goal, we kept them there. It’s a source of pride to hold a team that also obstructed and I would also like to say that one minute of recovery after the goalkeeper’s obstruction is really not enough. I didn’t like the referees at all.but we certainly didn’t lose because of that.”
Source: Ansa
