Neville says Jack Grealish will be "embarrassed" after coming off in extra-time
Manchester United legend Gary Neville has called out England boss Gareth Southgate for taking off Jack Grealish, despite the Aston Villa playmaker not starting the match.
The Three Lions reached their first major international tournament final on Wednesday evening – after Southgate's men beat a challenging Denmark side in a Euro 2020 semi-final.
Grealish was a second-half substitute, and he came onto replace Bukayo Saka – before he was axed in extra-time when Atletico Madrid's Kieran Tripper replaced him.
And – speaking after the game on ITV – Gary Neville spoke about how Grealish will have been left 'embarrassed' by the situation.
He said: "There’s been moments before games in this tournament where Southgate has questioned and he would have been battered if it had gone wrong.
"Trippier in the first game, not playing Grealish enough, against Scotland the system people thought was too defensive.
"He doesn’t allow anyone to get carried away, he makes decisions that have been made to make the team successful.
"Jack tonight has suffered, and it’s an embarrassing moment for him in the sense that no one likes it, but he will recognise that it was the right thing for the team."
Do you think Jack Grealish should have been hooked against Denmark? Let us know in the comments section
Southgate explained his decision after the game: "Denmark threw four forwards forward and we needed five [defenders] back.
"Raheem [Sterling] was such a threat that it was either going to be Phil [Foden] or Jack to get the solidity without the ball.
"We still needed to get that pressure up the pitch. We sank a little bit too deep for five minutes or so.
"We just needed to keep the ball and it took us five minutes to work that out. When we started to keep it, we were running the clock down with a lot less anxiety."
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Grealish has been limited to cameo appearances at Euro 2020 – much to the annoyance of part of the fanbase.
However, he was instrumental against Germany after coming off the bench, and the playmaker had a hand in both goals.
England will now face Italy, in the Euro 2020 final, on Sunday evening at Wembley.
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