Alan Shearer has shared what he really thought about Declan Rice’s performance as the Arsenal midfielder helped England edge Switzerland in their Euro 2024 quarter-final on Saturday.

The Three Lions have set up a semi-final with Netherlands as they produced a perfect penalty shootout performance, with all five takers finding the back of the net against Yann Sommer.

England were, once again, not at their best during the 120 minutes of game-time, with Switzerland arguably the better side who created many of the better chances. Thankfully for Gareth Southgate’s side, Bukayo Saka was able to produce a moment of much-needed quality to cancel out Breel Embolo’s opener just before.

Saka was surely England’s best player over the course of the game, but it seems that he was not the only player to impress the likes of Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker.

Alan Shearer shares what he really thought of Declan Rice’s display in England win

Speaking on The Rest is Football, Shearer suggested that Declan Rice had a much better day than many realise, while Lineker claimed that the 25-year-old does not get the credit he probably deserves.

“Quietly I thought under the radar without being spectacular but did a really good job is Declan Rice,” Shearer said.

“I think he is under appreciated. There are a lot of people going get Rice off, I don’t think they see the work that he does with his interceptions and all that. Could he improve his passing breaking the lines? Yes. But when you have Mainoo liking to go forward and Bellingham and Foden you need that anchor,” Lineker added.

Statistics show Arsenal man was nearly flawless

The statistics certainly suggest that Rice had a much better game than he is probably getting credit for.

Whoscored shows that he completed 93 of his 94 passes, while no player on the pitch won more tackles than the four Rice managed.

As Lineker suggests, England seem to be struggling to break down teams who are quite happy to defend in a compact unit – and Switzerland made sure to flood their own box when they needed to.

So Rice could do more in those moments, but there is absolutely no question that no team in the tournament, particularly of those left, has more attacking quality than England, so it is not necessarily the Arsenal star’s job to make things happen.

Southgate will probably feel that Rice did everything he wanted from him absolutely perfectly.

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