Gareth Southgate bemoans ‘bizarre situation’ which saw England duo Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount spend ‘120 seconds too long’ with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour

Ben Chilwell and Mason Mount spent 120 seconds too long with Billy Gilmour, it has been revealed.

The England duo’s catch-up with their Chelsea pal while on international duty, though, has resulted in their respective 10-day self-isolation periods.

The pair will miss Tuesday night’s final Group D clash with Czech Republic – despite producing two negative tests – after coming into close contact with Scotland midfielder Gilmour, who subsequently tested positive for coronavirus, after last Friday’s stalemate.

ITV

Southgate has been left bewildered by the decision which has seen Chilwell and Mount miss out

ITV

Mount and Chilwell have been forced to self-isolate after coming in close contact with Gilmour

“They’re of course hugely disappointed to miss the games and we’ve had to get on with it,” manager Gareth Southgate told ITV Sport before the Wembley game.

“It’s a bizarre situation, really, they’ve spent 120 seconds too long in a fairly open space, it’s full of contradictions, for me, but we’ll have to get over it.

“Frankly, I don’t understand it at all. There are teams traveling around, flying, by coach, by bus, in close spaces for hours and our two boys have been pinged. I don’t get it, I really don’t get it.

“As I said yesterday, I have no issue for Steve [Clarke] and Scotland, I don’t want them to have any more issues than we’ve had, but it seems a bizarre situation.”

Former Manchester United captain Keane could not understand why the trio were talking to each other after such an important match and claimed he chats to no one for longer than five minutes.

ITV

Keane believes Mount and Chilwell were naive to embrace Gilmour

He told ITV: “The only thing I’d be critical of is why would you want to speak to an opposition player for 20 minutes? I don’t care if he’s your [club] teammate or not.

“I very rarely speak to anybody for over five minutes. After a game when you’ve been to war against somebody, why would you want to chat to somebody for that long?

“They could’ve used a bit more common sense.”

After laughs from Ian Wright and Gary Neville, ITV host Mark Pougatch asked: “I hope your wife gets more than a five-minute chat with you, Roy?”

And in typical Keane fashion, he replied: “Never,” though there was a wry smile from the Irishman.

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