Former Napoli manager and Slovakia boss Francesco Calzona reveals why England midfielder Declan Rice 'apologised' after their Euro 2024 clash and urges Italy to give Luciano Spalletti time.

It has been an extremely busy time for Calzona, who since February has taken on the role of interim coach at Napoli while keeping his main job as the international coach of the Slovakian national team, KosovaPress reports.

The Slovaks reached the last 16 of Euro 2024 and were just 30 seconds away from beating England, until a Jude Bellingham strike and Harry Kane's stoppage-time goal turned everything around.

"Overall I'm happy with our tournament, even if there are so many regrets because we were close to making history for this country," he told Sky Sport Italia.

"I'm proud of the lads because we got England back in their own half for 29 minutes of added time. "We played good football in the group stage as well, but while we felt confident going in, we didn't expect to be moments away from qualifying for the quarterfinals," Calzona continued.

There was tension at the final whistle when Calzona pushed England midfielder Rice, who then returned the offense.

"Rice was standing next to the referees, I wanted to ask the reason for the lack of added time given the time wasted by the English, he shouted at me and I answered him in the same tone. He's a great player, maybe he shouldn't be there acting as a bodyguard for the referee. "He could have avoided it, but he apologized to me right after," Calzona said.

Before taking the job in Slovakia in 2022, Calzona was Spalletti's assistant manager at Napoli, so does he have any advice for his old boss?

"What I can say is that there is really very little time to work with players at international level and you need patience. The results for Italy were negative, but Spalletti is a great coach and they should give him time. I also had difficulties and was criticized at the beginning, but the federation stood by me and we achieved this objective. You can't throw everything out the window at the first sign of difficulty," Calzona said.

There is another Italian coach at EURO 2024 as Vincenzo Montella takes charge of Turkey against Austria this evening.

"I wish Montella all the best, he is a great coach and a fantastic person. We've already played Austria, I knew they could be a surprise at the Euros, but I'm cheering for Vincenzo," said Calzona.