Denmark vs England referee clashed with Three Lions staff member in the Wembley tunnel in furious 'bust-up'

The referee for England's Euro 2024 group stage clash against Denmark has history with one Three Lions staff member.

Gareth Southgate's side have travelled to Frankfurt in search of their second consecutive win at Euro 2024.

Victory would seal qualification from the group stages as either the group winner or runner-up after Sunday's 1-0 win over Serbia in Gelsenkirchen.

The referee in charge of proceedings is Portuguese official Artur Soares Dias, who was also in the middle for England's friendly defeat to Brazil in March.

At half-time, England coach Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink took issue with the referee's handling of the encounter.

The former Chelsea striker was furious over tackles made against Jude Bellingham by several Brazil stars, and confronted the fourth official over the lack of yellow cards handed out during the opening 45 minutes.

Speaking during the live broadcast on Channel 4, pitchside reporter Kelly Somers confirmed: "I can tell you that it might have been feisty on the pitch, it was exactly that in the tunnel as well.

"I am sat behind the Brazil bench, they were animated throughout the first half.

"And England coach Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink followed the fourth official down the tunnel. They were deep in conversation. Unfortunately, I'm not multi-lingual, it wasn't in English.

"Hasselbaink's message was, 'One, two, three, four fouls, too many fouls'."

It is believed that the Dutchman's complaints largely centred around Dias' failure to send off West Ham midfielder Lucas Paqueta for a heavy challenge on Bellingham.

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While Hasselbaink may need to watch his step against Denmark, given the increased clampdown on discipline among managers and coaches at Euro 2024, players will also need to be on their best behaviour as well.

Dias officiated 11 Liga Portugal matches over the most recent season, handing out six red cards.

He also issued 59 yellow cards over those games - meaning an average of 5.93 total cards per match.

Dias took charge of five European matches involving English teams last season, including Manchester City's 3-1 win over RB Leipzig and Arsenal's 6-0 win over Lens. Both matches took place in the Champions League group stages.

He was also the official in the middle for Bayer Leverkusen's 2-0 win over West Ham in the Europa League semi-final first leg.

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