Jack Grealish admitted there’s no bad blood on his side after both he and Declan Rice received a hostile reception against the Republic of Ireland on Saturday.
Grealish was back in an England shirt for the first time after being left out of the squad for Euro 2024 and he thrived in the number ten role interim manager Lee Carsley played him in.
The Manchester City man and Rice both got hostile receptions on their return to Ireland with the Arsenal star having earned three caps for the country before switching allegiance, whilst Grealish represented the country up until under-21 level before switching allegiances.
It was a hostile crowd that greeted England and particularly Rice and Grealish, with one rather unsavoury sign targetting the pair spotted in the crowd.
However, as is so often the case with football it has a way of writing it’s own scripts, with Rice opening the scoring and then not celebrating before he teed up Grealish who doubled England’s lead and didn’t think twice about celebrating.
It was a good performance from England who played some nice free flowing attacking football, even if they did drop off in the second half.
Speaking after the game Grealish admitted he expected the reception and that he enjoyed his time playing for the Republic of Ireland.
“It was what me and Declan expected. We have nothing bad to say, we both enjoyed our time [playing for Ireland] – I certainly did and I have a lot of Irish in my family, so there’s no bad blood whatsoever from my side,” he told ITV Sport.
Grealish was more open when talking about his return to the England side and described this summer as one of the worst of his life.
“Going to the fans at the end and hearing them sing my name, listen there’s no better feeling than playing for England, everyone will say the same thing, especially in games like this when you know the whole nation is going to be watching,” he added.
“Over the summer, it was one of the worst summers of my life because you can’t not see everything that is happening in front of you. It was difficult but it’s given me something to bounce back.”
Next up for England is a game against Finland at Wembley on Tuesday evening before the Premier League returns next weekend.
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