England's Alli in rude gesture incident

Sep 4, 2017 - 11:39 PM England midfielder Dele Alli faces an anxious wait to discover whether he faces any disciplinary action from FIFA, for an obscene gesture towards the referee.

The midfielder was caught on camera raising a middle finger in the direction of French referee Clement Turpin during the second half of England's 2-1 World Cup qualifying win over Slovakia on Monday.

Alli was unhappy having not been awarded a foul after a heavy challenge by Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel.

Should referee Turpin adjudge that Alli's gesture was aimed at him and mention it in his post-match report the 21-year-old could face retrospective punishment.

Alli later explained his actions on Twitter.

"Just to clarify, the gesture tonight was a joke between me and my good friend Kyle Walker! Apologies for any offence caused! Great win 2nite (sic)," he tweeted.

Although it remains unclear exactly who the gesture was aimed at, Alli's discipline was again the subject of discussion after the game at Wembley Stadium.

England manager Gareth Southgate initially said he had not seen the incident but would look at it in the coming days.

Later Southgate said Alli had told him the gesture was made in jest towards his former Tottenham teammate Kyle Walker.

"I've not seen it, but I've been made aware of it," Southgate told reporters.

"Kyle and Dele were mucking about, and Dele's made a gesture towards Kyle.

"I don't know what the angle of the pitch is. The pair of them have a strange way of communicating, but that's what they've said.

"I've literally just gone and asked him (Dele) quickly."

On a more positive note, Southgate described Alli's display as his best since he took charge.

"For me, what it does is detract from what was his best performance for us since I've been the manager," he said.

"His work without the ball was top drawer, intelligent positions and turning people over...

"Hopefully we'll be talking about that."

Source: AAP