Gareth Southgate: England Boss Admits a Player Was Disgusted at His Decision Against Slovakia

• England came from behind to beat Slovakia in a crazy fashion in the Round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship
• The Three Lions were a minute away from elimination before Jude Bellingham equalised to take the game to extra time
• Gareth Southgate has opened up on how one of his players feels about a key decision that won the match in the extra time

England made a crazy comeback to beat Slovakia 2-1 and progress to the quarter-final of Euro 2024, but one of its players was not impressed with his manager's decision.

The Three Lions trailed for the majority of the game after Ivan Schranz put Slovakia ahead in the 25th minute, and the team held on to their lead until the last minute.

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Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham came clutch with a bicycle kick goal after a scramble in the box following a corner in the 95th minute. This pushed the game to extra time.

Captain Harry Kane scored in the first minute of extra time to give the English team the lead. They held on to set up a quarter-final encounter against Switzerland.

Which England player was unhappy with Southgate?

Gareth Southgate bowed to media pressure yesterday by deploying Arsenal star Bukayo Saka as a left-back after Kieran Trippier was subbed off with an injury in the 66th minute.

This was the biggest controversy, but the manager admitted in his post-match conference that another player was annoyed by his in-game decision.

Southgate claimed he never felt their campaign was ending so soon and was optimistic they'd get something in the additional minutes. Brentford striker Ivan Toney assisted Kane for the winner but was not pleased with his limited time.

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“There’s no question, I think Ivan Toney was pretty disgusted that I put him on with a minute to go. I think we’ve made up now but he’s had a big impact, in the second goal as well,” he said via Metro UK.

All is well between the two now, and as seen in a post on the player's Instagram page, a photo with his manager was part of the ones he shared after the match.

Bellingham clarifies gesture towards Slovakia

Sports Brief reported on Bellingham clarifying his gesture towards Slovakian bench after scoring a last-minute equaliser to take the game to extra time.

The Real Madrid star put his hands over his lips and later made a grabbing gesture on his groin, which was seen as disrespectful, but he has claimed he did not mean it that way.