Jose Mourinho was made to eat his words and offered some rare praise to Luke Shaw following his performance in England's 4-0 thrashing of Ukraine in their Euro 2020 quarter-final on Saturday night.
The Manchester United left-back was one of the Three Lions' most impressive players on the night as a brace from Harry Kane and further goals from Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson sealed a comfortable win for Gareth Southgate's side and set up a semi-final against Denmark at Wembley on Wednesday.
Shaw and Mourinho have had a turbulent relationship dating back from the Portuguese's time as manager at Old Trafford, and Mourinho recently took aim by describing his former player's set-piece taking as “dramatically bad.”
Shaw hit back in a press conference by saying “He continuously talks about me, which I find quite strange. Even some of the lads have said ‘What’s his problem?’ and ‘Why does he keep talking?’
"He just needs to move on. Hopefully he can find his peace with that and finally move on and stop worrying about me. Clearly I am in his head a lot and he clearly thinks about me a lot."
Shaw did all his talking on the pitch against Ukraine and created two assists, one of which came from a free-kick which Maguire headed home.
And speaking on talkSPORT Mourinho admitted that he was impressed with the 25-year-old's showing.
"The question now is whether England need to play a back three like they did against Germany (vs Denmark)," Mourinho said.
"My answer is no they don't. I think the back four is really solid. Luke Shaw is playing better and better and better.
"Kyle Walker is having an amazing tournament. The two centre-backs are very solid. So the back four, with the amazing tournament the two central midfielders are having, is more than enough to control Denmark defensively.
"Then you have four players who can decide the creativity of the game, and I think it is there where Gareth (Southgate) may have some doubts."
Shaw, meanwhile, reserved special praise for goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after the Ukraine game, who has yet to concede a goal in the tournament.
“I think the concentration in the defence has been unbelievable and of course that starts with Pickers," he said.
“For me, Pickers has been outstanding. He's been unbelievable, one of our best players this tournament.
"Like I said, it starts with him. I'm really happy for him. He's been unbelievable."
