Juventus and Italy star Leonardo Bonucci has said that West Ham midfielder Declan Rice spurred the Azzurri ahead of the Euro 2020 final.
In an interview with the Athletic, the 34-year-old defender claimed that comments from the England international ahead of the final at Wembley motivated the Italian national team to beat the Three Lions.
As per the TalkSPORT, Rice said ahead of the final: “I can assure you, we will be ready for it 10 times harder than they will. We are ready to run, ready to go to places we’ve never been before.”
But according to Bonucci, this fighting talk from the West Ham star was a big mistake. As we know, Italy took the game to penalties, and misses from Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka saw Roberto Mancini’s side lift the trophy in front of a down and depressed England crowd.
The centre-back said about Rice’s comments: We wanted to show them that the final hadn’t already been decided. That they hadn’t already won.
“Hearing that song on repeat and the comment from Declan Rice saying England were 10 times more motivated to win than us… well, they’re the kind of mistakes young players make.
“You don’t say that. You should never say you want something more than somebody else or you’re better than somebody else.”
Indeed, it is easy to understand why these comments would spur on a team as tightknit and motivated as Italy. And for Bonucci, who earns a reported £211,000-a-week according to Salary Sport, he no doubt got the last laugh given how confident Rice was before the final.
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