Three Lions defender, John Stones has described Colombia as the dirtiest opponent he has ever faced.
The English national team defeated Colombia 4-3 on penalties on Tuesday night, to record their first ever World Cup penalty shootout win, after a fiery 1-1 draw in Moscow to set up a quarter-final tie with Sweden.
Colombia defender, Wilmar Barrios literally swirled his head into Jordan Henderson’s chin inside the box as England prepared for a free-kick in the first half. His actions literally angered millions of England fans and pundits, some of them have beckoned on FIFA to ban Barrios for his dangerous act.
Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports, Stones said: “The game was so strange. Probably the dirtiest team I have ever come up against. In the respect of when we won a penalty – they were surrounding the referee, even pushing the referee. The headbutt I’m sure you’ve all seen. Scuffing the penalty spot. A lot of off the ball stuff that I’m sure you have not heard about.
“All the sort of things you don’t really hear in a football match. On our behalf, it showed massive character to keep a cool head and not get sucked into their game. When you play a team that want to fight and disturb your momentum, you can sometimes get dragged into it. That’s what they want.
“We stuck to our plan and kept playing our way of football. It’s a great sign for a team to have that sort of quality, to have tunnel vision of what we want out of the game plan. It was a difficult situation to be in, but one we overcame and can be proud of.”
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