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Southgate fumes at ‘ridiculous’ Maguire treatment
Gareth Southgate, the England manager, has shown strong support for Harry Maguire despite the own goal he scored against Scotland in a friendly on Tuesday.
While England largely dominated their 150th-anniversary match against rivals Scotland, Maguire’s 67th-minute own goal briefly gave the Scots hope for a comeback before goals from Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham secured the win for England. Harry Kane further solidified the victory with an 81st-minute strike.
In spite of the own goal, Southgate defended Maguire and criticized those who have been harshly critical of the out-of-favor Manchester United defender.
Speaking to reporters after the game, Southgate said, “From a Scotland fan’s point of view I get it. I have absolutely no complaints with what they did. It is a consequence of the ridiculous treatment of him for a long period of time, frankly, and I think our fans recognised, ‘ok there might be a bit of heat from our own supporters but we are not going to have it from others getting into him.’ But it is a joke. I have never known a player to be treated the way he is. Not from the Scottish fans – by our own commentators, pundits, whatever it is, they have created something that is beyond anything I have ever seen.
“He has been an absolute stalwart for us in the second most successful English team for decades, he has been an absolutely key part of that. I have talked about the importance of our senior players, he has been crucial amongst that and every time he goes on the field the resilience he shows, the balls he shows is absolutely incredible so he is a top player and we are all with him. Our fans were brilliant with him tonight. I feel fairly strongly about it.”
When asked about Maguire’s mental state after all the criticisms, Southgate replied, “He is good, he is great, we have had a good win and he was a big part of that. He has fronted up as he always does which is enormous credit to his character.”