It's a pleasure to kick England out, says Manchester City's Croatian defender

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Corluka has been an integral part of Croatia's rise under coach Slaven Bilic and returned to City yesterday in the knowledge that he had broken English hearts.

Attack: Corluka

But the 21-year-old defender risked a frosty reception from the likes of club-mate Micah Richards after branding England arrogant.

Corluka said: 'England got just what they deserved because they were unbelievably arrogant.

'I don't know what Croatia have done to deserve being treated like this by the England players. I cannot believe they didn't recognise our ability.

'We came to Wembley as the first team in the group and were not treated correctly. I didn't expect that in England. We've shown again that we're a better team than England and it's a real pleasure to kick them out of the European Championship.'

Corluka didn't expand on his comments but it is understood that the City right back was not impressed with comments he heard from England players on the field.

There is also lingering resentment among the Croats that one of their FA officials was arrested — though later released — for alleged shoplifting at Gatwick airport on Tuesday.

Bilic and his home-based players arrived back in Zagreb to a rapturous reception and the former West Ham and Everton defender immediately ruled himself out of the running for the England job.

The Croatia coach, who earns just £75,000 a year, said: 'It's very nice to be talked about but right now I would not leave the Croatian bench for anything in the world.

'It's understandable that McClaren got the sack. But I feel sorry for Steve McClaren. He also had a lot of injured players. But this is a big shock in England, even though England is not the same team without John Terry, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen.'

Mladen Petric, scorer of the winner, refused to swap shirts with England players. He said: 'It's the most valuable goal of my career and the best I've scored. I wouldn't swap my kit with any English player because I want to save it for myself.'