July 8th 2023.
Tempers flared as England beat Spain 1-0 in the Under-21 European Championship final on Saturday, prompting a reaction from Sergio Gomez towards his Manchester City teammate Cole Palmer.
England took the lead on the stroke of half time thanks to Palmer's free kick which deflected off Curtis Jones. However, Spain were given a penalty in the final minute of injury time after a VAR review spotted Levi Colwill’s foul on Abel Ruiz inside the area. Ruiz stepped up to take the penalty but it was saved by England goalkeeper James Trafford, who also blocked the rebound.
Both England’s goal and penalty save sparked a brawl between both sets of players as Spain were unhappy with the nature of the celebrations. Gomez, who plays alongside Palmer for City, is upset with the lack of apology from his club teammate. When asked if he was surprised by Palmer’s attitude following Spain’s defeat, Gomez told Spanish radio station Cadena SER: “It surprised me. He didn’t want to apologise 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 in a different way 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.”
England have won the Under-21 European Championship for the third time in their history and Gomez wants his team to respect their rivals regardless of the result. “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.”
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