Bonucci takes aim at England’s Declan Rice for Euro 2020 comments

Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci took aim at Declan Rice for his comments prior to the Euro 2020 final back in the summer.

After a long and gruelling tournament it came down to Italy and England as they battled it out for the trophy at Wembley. The game eventually went all the way to penalties after Bonucci himself cancelled out Luke Shaw’s early opener and in typical Three Lions fashion, Gareth Southgate’s men were unable to get the job done as the Azzurri won the shootout 3-2 – with Bonucci scoring Italy’s third penalty en-route to victory.

The Italians get the last laugh

Prior to the game there were a lot of comments being thrown around by both teams, which included West Ham and England midfielder Declan Rice insisting the hosts would be “more focused” than their opponents on the night.

During a recent interview with The Athletic, Bonucci highlighted why that was a mistake.

“That song, and the comment from Declan Rice saying England were 10 times more motivated to win than us,” Bonucci said.

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“They’re the mistakes young players make. You don’t say that. Never say you want something more or you’re better than somebody else.”

England will have to wait until next year’s World Cup before getting another chance at lifting a piece of silverware but for the time being, we’d say Declan Rice is doing a pretty good job of putting the final behind him as he continues to thrive with West Ham both domestically and in Europe.

Featured image credit: Getty