Max Rushden blasts Declan Rice after behind-scenes footage emerges after West Ham loss v Frankfurt
Max Rushden has blasted West Ham star Declan Rice after footage emerged of him accusing the referee of corruption after their Europa League exit.
The Hammers were beaten 1-0 in Frankfurt to be eliminated in the semi-final stage, with Aaron Cresswell sent off after just 19 minutes for being the last man and bringing down the Frankfurt striker.
But after footage emerged of the 23-year-old confronting the referee in the tunnel after the game, TV host Rushden took to Twitter to blast the midfielder for his ‘Sunday League’ accusations.
“Declan rice is a brilliant player,” he said. “But this isn’t great.
“Blatant red card. They weren’t good enough either leg. Great shame – they just didn’t quite turn up. But also hilarious how Sunday league this chat is.”
Rice can be heard saying the referee was ‘probably [expletive] paid’ before walking away and saying ‘[expletive] corruption’.
Head loss
Rice clearly lost his head and was incredibly disappointed with the result and performance of the team, but far too much is being made of this.
Everyone has been in a position before where they’ve lost control of emotions and said things they don’t mean, or acted in a way they don’t like.
He’s only 23-years-old and is still learning, and while what he did was wrong he will know that when he sees the footage back. He will accept any punishment and then everyone should move on.
Rice is playing for the club he loves and was in a position where he was hoping to make history with the team, but it was cruelly ripped away from him.
The referee wasn’t the reason for West Ham not making it, Rushden is right. But lets not pile on to one of the countries best players right now because of a moment of madness. Let him learn from it and grow.
In other West Ham news, TalkSPORT pundit suggests West Ham sell ‘excellent’ first-team ace to keep Declan Rice
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