Wayne Rooney in disagreement with BBC pundit after England dressing room footage
Wayne Rooney has criticised England's dressing room celebrations following their dramatic 3-2 World Cup last-16 victory against Mexico, suggesting Thomas Tuchel's squad may be getting ahead of themselves by celebrating too soon after reaching the quarter-finals.
The Three Lions overcame a hostile atmosphere and high altitude at the Azteca Stadium to knock the tournament hosts out of the competition. Jude Bellingham scored a quickfire brace to give England the lead, with Harry Kane converting a penalty in between Mexican goals from Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez. The performance has been hailed as one of the best in England's history.
The players made the most of their victory by celebrating enthusiastically in the dressing room, dancing and jumping around whilst also singing Oasis's Wonderwall with supporters on the pitch. Footage of the celebrations was later released showing defender John Stones tricking head coach Tuchel into thinking he was injured before breaking into a dance routine.
The BBC broadcast the footage following its coverage of Portugal versus Spain on Monday night. Rooney, working as a pundit for the game, was not overly impressed with what he witnessed. However, his fellow pundit Cesar Azpilicueta, the former Chelsea defender, disagreed with Rooney's assessment. Azpilicueta stressed that it was all about balance in such moments. "As a player when you have had these kinds of games against a host this atmosphere you have to enjoy it," said the Spaniard.
The celebrations were dampened by an injury to midfielder Jordan Henderson, who suffered a broken wrist after falling over an advertising hoarding during England's post-match festivities. The former Liverpool captain required surgery to repair a broken radius in his left arm and will now miss the remainder of the World Cup after appearing for just six minutes against Panama.
England will face Norway in the quarter-finals at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami on Saturday July 11 at 10pm BST.