Dele Alli offers laughable explanation for middle-finger gesture

Dele Alli claims his middle-finger gesture during Monday’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Slovakia was aimed at England teammate Kyle Walker.

The Tottenham midfielder could find himself in hot water after TV cameras showed Alli gesturing in the 77th-minute of the match at Wembley, which took England to the brink of qualification for Russia 2018.

Alli was seen gesturing in the direction of referee Clement Turpin, who had waved play on after he was body-checked by former Liverpool favourite Martin Skrtel.

“Just to clarify, the gesture was a joke between me and my good friend Kyle Walker,” Alli, 21, wrote on Twitter.

“Apologies for any offence caused.”

It initially appeared that Alli gestured towards Turpin, with whom he also had words when he was substituted in the 93rd minute.

Alli and Walker are good friends and played together at Tottenham until the full-back made a £50million move to Manchester City this summer.

England manager Gareth Southgate, when questioned about the incident, said the duo were “messing about”, adding: “They have a strange way of communicating.”

It remains to be seen whether UEFA will take retrospective action against the player, who has been no stranger to controversy in the past.

The player missed the Premier League title run-in in 2015-16 after punching West Bromwich Albion’s Claudio Yacob, and was sent off for a dangerous foul on Gent’s Brecht Dejaegere during a Europa League game in February 2016.