'I didn't like it': Mourinho not happy with what happened to Aston Villa player at Euro 2020

By John Verrall

Jose Mourinho has told TalkSPORT that he did not like seeing Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish substituted on and off against Denmark.

The Villa captain was introduced just after the hour mark in England’s game against Denmark, with the score locked at 1-1.

The playmaker helped England take a lead in the match, with Harry Kane scoring what turned out to be the winner.

But shortly after that goal was scored, England boss Gareth Southgate decided that he wanted more defensive solidity.

As a result, the Villa playmaker was hooked off again, with Kieran Trippier coming on to help see the game out.

Southgate’s decision was vindicated, as England actually got through extra time with very few scary moments.

But Mourinho felt that if Southgate had left Grealish on, England may well have won by a more comfortable margin.

“I didn’t like it, either,” Mourinho said. “But I did not very similar, but even worse recently, when I started a game in the Champions League – Tottenham v Olympiacos – and after 20 minutes i had to make a change, we were losing 2-0, and bring Dier out.

“It broke my heart but I did it to the team, but probably Gareth tried to explain to Grealish why he did that.

‘If he did that it was not with the intention to hurt Jack, I’m pretty sure of that, it was of the intention to help the team.

“But honestly I did not see a reason for that. England was not in trouble, England were in control and Denmark were exhausted.

“I could even feel that with Jack having more space and the game broken, I could even see Jack helping England to resolve the game even easier and to kill it, so I didn’t feel any need to do that.”

Will Grealish start the final?

Southgate said after the game that Grealish was fine with his decision to take him off, and the player himself certainly did not seem too perturbed by the substitution at full time.

Southgate has ignored calls to start Grealish throughout the tournament though.

And it seems unlikely that the Villa man will be thrown in from the off, when England take on Italy in the final on Sunday.