Roy Keane vehemently criticized Harry Maguire for his goal celebration against Albania on Friday, as we covered in football news. Now, the Manchester United captain and England player has stated he was not trying to make a message. As has his Three Lions head coach Gareth Southgate, who has called Maguire a fabulous player. So, today, after England won 5-0 over Albania at Wembley Stadium, Maguire and Southgate defend his celebration from Keane’s criticism.
Harry Maguire should be full of embarrassment, says Roy Keane, for cupping his ears to celebrate his header in England’s 5-0 triumph. The former United star believes this gesture, meant to “shut up the critics” was undeserved for Maguire.
Keane explained the centre-back has been so bad at club level that such a simple goal proved nothing to anyone.
Maguire and Southgate Defend His Celebration from Keane’s Criticism
After the game, Maguire replied to these comments, and he told Sky Sports News that he was exaggerating his celebration.
“It was a great ball from Reece [James],” the former United midfielder began. “We’d worked on it, we knew the areas we could exploit and credit to all the staff for doing that.
“I managed to direct the header into the far post and I think when you play these games, the first goal is crucial and it comes quite a lot from set-plays. We knew we’d get a lot of set-plays and we had to be clinical with them.
“The celebration was a knee slide, it just came naturally to me. It’s an amazing feeling to score for my country. It wasn’t directed at anyone, it just came naturally to do that and open the scoring for England and get the important three points.”
After the game, manager Gareth Southgate also backed Harry Maguire’s recent form and expressed his thoughts on the celebration.
“Is he a Hulk Hogan fan? I don’t know what the celebration was for,” Southgate joked. “He’s a fabulous player, two months ago he was in Euros team of the tournament.
“He’s rushed back because he’s the sort of player who has a huge conscience to help his club. You get lots of players who hide in the treatment room when pressure is on. He hasn’t done that and I have massive respect for that but you can go into matches not fully fit and you’re judged as fully fit in those moments.
“I’ve had a good chat with him this week, reminded him how important he is for us, he’s been able to switch focus and have a few days on the training pitch which has probably helped, and his performance was very good.”
