Harry Maguire was booed by his own fans ahead of England's friendly with Ivory Coast at Wembley on Tuesday.
The Manchester United defender was named in the starting lineup by Gareth Southgate despite his struggling form at club level. Southgate has kept faith with Maguire, who was arguably one of England's better players on their run to the Euro 2020 final.
But his inclusion in the side prompted jeers from Three Lions supporters, as Maguire's name on the teamsheet was met by a chorus of boos when read out over the stadium tannoy ahead of kick-off. The 29-year-old did not feature in England's last fixture against Switzerland on Saturday, but was brought in to partner Tyrone Mings at the heart of the defence for the clash with Ivory Coast.
Maguire has come under heavy scrutiny for his performances for United this season, with his place in the side and as captain continually questioned. Both Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were omitted from the latest England squad due to their form for Man Utd not being to Southgate's required standard, but Maguire was handed a reprieve.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the game, Southgate said: "I'm very confident [in Maguire]. A lot of our players usually have these questions when they come away with us, it's usually Harry Kane, he usually gets a hat-trick. I don't expect Maguire to do that, but we know the only way to answer these questions is on the pitch. That's the challenge for Harry and everyone else."
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Southgate had admitted in the lead up to the game though that it was a "complicated decision" to keep Maguire in the England side. "He got us to a World Cup semi-final and the European Championship final so there’s no doubt he’s more than capable of playing at the highest level,” Southgate said on Monday.
“He was very good for us in the autumn and the club are in a difficult moment. There could be any number of reasons for that. But that doesn’t mean that players can be poor for a couple of years and then still find their way in and sometimes it depends on competition for positions.
“We’ve obviously left some forward players out who haven’t been in good form. But there’s direct replacements, experienced replacements for those players. So as I say, it is a complicated decision.”
