Former Scotland striker Kris Boyd risked boiling over England fans’ fury after proudly mocking their heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final defeat by France.
The Three Lions saw their stay in Qatar ended at the weekend with a 2-1 defeat by the reigning world champions after Harry Kane missed a crucial penalty to equalise late on. The loss left the nation reeling and has given boss Gareth Southgate a decision to make over his long-term future.
Despite that, Boyd elected to poke fun at England’s elimination during his appearance on Sky Sports on Tuesday morning. Speaking alongside pundit Danny Mills and hosts Tom White and Bela Shah, the gleeful Scot said: “I’ve done really well this morning, I’ve not really brought it up, but I am too warm now, so I’m going to have to remove.”
He then took off his jumper to reveal a France football shirt, to which presenter White replied: “You’re joking. I knew something like that... Is that what you were wearing underneath? The whole time you've been wearing that.”
“Thomas, how is that for you? Is that okay for you?,” Boyd replied with a beaming smile on his face.
Shah then intervened to suggest that Boyd’s plan was in the offing all morning. “You’ve been really quiet, silently waiting for your moment,” she said.
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Boyd added: “It was the last one in the shop as well. I was desperate for a blue one as well.”
It wasn’t the first time that the ex-Rangers and Kilmarnock forward had attempted to ruffle feathers of England fans. Even before the Three Lions’ showdown with France, he waxed lyrical about the abilities of French forward Kylian Mbappe and revealed that he was hoping the Paris Saint-Germain sensation would get on the scoresheet in the quarter-final.
Boyd said: “He [Mbappe] can go outside but he wants to come inside and we’ve seen it before, the way he unleashes that right foot and bends it right in the far corner. It’s a joy to watch… and I hope it happens.”
He added: ”If it was another nation, they’d say it was a two-year plan to stop him (Mbappe). What it tells us is that it will probably be a three, five [year plan], but if you allow good players space, they will hurt you. It’s about not giving him that freedom.
“From England’s point of view, you have to stop it and sometimes you have to stop it at source. Stop the ball getting to him and if you can crowd an area that doesn't allow the ball to get to Mbappe, then that could be the plan.”
England did indeed manage to keep Mbappe quiet for the majority of the clash, with the forward only managing to evade Kyle Walker once. However, goals from Aurelien Tchouameni and Olivier Giroud were enough for Didier Deschamps’ side to book their place in the semi-final against Morocco.
