The president of the Spanish Football Association (FA), Luis Rubiales, and under-21 international Sergio Gomez have both expressed their disappointment with the behavior of the England team during the European U21 Championship final on Saturday. The match, in which England emerged as victors with a 1-0 scoreline against Spain, was marred by various altercations between the two teams, leading to red cards being shown to coaching staff and players.
England’s victory marked the first time in 39 years that they clinched the trophy. The winning goal came from Cole Palmer’s free-kick, which ricocheted off Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones. The fiercely contested match was rife with tempers flaring and ill-tempered moments.
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The tensions escalated when Palmer celebrated his goal in front of the Spain bench, triggering a brawl between both sets of players. This resulted in red cards being shown to Spain’s fitness coach Carlos Rivera and England’s assistant coach Ashley Cole. Altercations continued at half-time and the full-time whistle, with Morgan Gibbs-White from England and Antonio Blanco from Spain being sent off after the match.
Gomez, who joined Manchester City from Anderlecht last summer, expressed his surprise and disappointment with Palmer’s actions, stating in an interview, “It surprised me. He didn’t want to apologize or anything like some of his other teammates. I don’t know, I would have celebrated it in a different way and my teammates would have done it differently as well.”
“They [England] have the attitude they want to have. This is not the first time something like this has happened with this team. We have tried to represent our country in the best possible way and have the utmost respect for all our rivals. They wanted to celebrate it like this and also after the missed penalty.”
Palmer himself admitted that he may have gone too far with his celebrations, acknowledging that it was a highly emotional moment for him. Speaking to Channel 4 after the match, he said, “Obviously, it means a lot. Been working a lot over the past few years for this moment and it’s come so I’m buzzing. I was a bit frustrated with the way they were going down and screaming [earlier in the match]. The celebration was maybe a bit over the top, but [I’m] just happy.”
The president of the Spanish FA, Rubiales, also voiced his dissatisfaction with England’s conduct during the game. Referring to certain gestures made by the English players, he said, “These players are already men and some gestures [from England] could have been avoided. Here, we not only train footballers but also people. It is almost inevitable to jump into some provocation, but the people of the Spanish FA behaved very well. We know how to win, as we demonstrated with the Nations League, and when we lose, we shake hands with our opposition.”
