England player left 'disgusted' by Gareth Southgate decision during Slovakia win
Gareth Southgate has revealed that he left an England player 'disgusted' by his decision in their huge victory over Slovakia.
England beat Slovakia 2-1 in a thrilling win to book their spot in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024.
Jude Bellingham scored a stunning equaliser before Harry Kane put the Three Lions ahead in extra-time.
After the final whistle, Declan Rice had to be held back by his teammates as he clashed with Slovakia manager Francesco Calzona.
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Gareth Southgate spoke to ITV after the come-from-behind victory and revealed he left a player 'disgusted' by his decision in Gelsenkirchen.
He brought on Ivan Toney with a minute to play of normal time and said that he left him 'disgusted' with the late introduction.
"It’s strange but I never felt tonight would be the end of our tournament. Even with the long throw, you felt there was hope, we can cause some chaos and something might drop. I didn’t think the finish would be quite as it was," said Southgate.
"There’s no question that I think Ivan Toney was pretty disgusted when I brought him on with a minute to go and I think we’ve made up now, but he’s had a big impact, on the second goal as well.
"You put a sub on at that time, it is the last throw of the dice and he maybe doesn’t even touch the ball.
"I completely understand it. I don’t like putting a player in that position but we just had a feeling that he might be able to cause the bit of chaos that happened."
Toney replaced Phil Foden very late on in their last-16 clash.
It was his first appearance of the tournament as he got more minutes under his belt in extra-time.
And he made a massive impact in extra-time as he set up Kane.
Toney brilliantly directed Eberechi Eze's wayward shot into the Bayern Munich forward, who headed home.
The Brentford star could feature when England resume their Euros campaign next Saturday against Switzerland.
Topics: England, Ivan Toney, Gareth Southgate, Football
Nasir Jabbar