Match of the Day's Alan Shearer left 'bored' on BBC show as he delivers brutal verdict

Alan Shearer was happy to admit he was left 'thoroughly' bored in the Match of the Day studio on Monday night, as the first half of Croatia's match against Italy proved to be a very forgettable affair, before things took a turn in the second.

Having seen Scotland crash out of Euro 2024 with defeat to Hungary 24 hours earlier, as he joined colleagues like Gabby Logan and David Moyes, Alan was back on BBC pundit duty for the Croatia v Italy match, as both teams aimed to make it through to the last 16 with Spain, who were playing Albania at the same time.

In the build up to the 8pm kick off, Alan, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and fellow pundits Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards got excited about what was in store as they talked through some of the star players on each team sheet. However, after all the anticipation, the first 45 minutes of the crunch tie was disappointing in the extreme.

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As the half time whistle blew, Gary examined the Group B standings at that moment in time, before asking: "Are you alright Alan? Enjoying it?" Being very matter of fact with his response, the ex England and Newcastle striker replied: "Not really, no. Very flat errr, I know Italy have changed their shape, which has helped them.

"They got a lot of crosses into the box, some good, some bad, but the standard I think has been really, really poor."

Thankfully things picked up for Alan and the rest of the Match of the Day team, as well as the millions of viewers watching at home, in the second half; when, after missing a penalty, Croatia took the lead through their legendary attacker Luca Modric, relegating Euros holders Italy to third place in their group.

However, there was a last ditch twist in the tale, when Mattia Zaccagni levelled things up in the final minute of added time, with Italy leapfrogging Croatia to qualify in second and leaving their opponents on the brink of going out on two points.