JAW & PEACE Cahill reveals secret of how he came to forgive Mertens for sneaky shove that put him out of Euro 2012

DRIES MERTENS has apologised to Gary Cahill for causing one of the worst moments of the England defender’s career.

Belgium forward Mertens pushed Cahill during a Euro 2012 warm-up match, causing him to collide with Joe Hart and suffer a broken jaw which put him out of the tournament.

It was a shocking incident which left Cahill devastated but Mertens (right) made amends in March when he spotted him on holiday in Dubai.

Chelsea defender Cahill said: “I was in a restaurant and he took time out to come over and apologise. I respected him a hell of a lot for doing that.

“I didn’t even know he was in there but he came over and apologised for something that happened years ago.

“It had huge consequences at the time because I felt like I was in condition to start at that tournament. The age I was at, the form I was in, I felt I would have played so it was a huge blow for me.

“It took a little time to get over it but I don’t think he did it deliberately. How many times are you playing and you kind of shove, or you’re frustrated and don’t get the ball and shove someone out the way?

“I think it was one of those things, a freak situation. I hit Joe, probably one of the worst people to hit in the whole team because his shoulders are massive. That was that. He didn’t think, ‘I’m going to push him and break his jaw.’

“I held no grudges against him – I was just really disappointed that I was missing that tournament. For him to take time out years later to apologise is something I really respect.

“We shook hands. I said, ‘Look, ‘it’s finished with’. I don’t know him from Adam but he’s obviously decent fella.”

As it turns out, Cahill could end up facing Mertens tomorrow night as Gareth Southgate and Roberto Martinez have hinted they may a make changes for the Group G decider, with England and Belgium already qualified. Cahill could be drafted into England’s defence but the 32-year-old – the most experienced member of the squad with 60 caps – warned about the dangers of losing momentum. England rested six players for their final group match in Euro 2016 when they were already as good as qualified. They ended up drawing with Slovakia to finish second in the group before suffering one of their worst defeats of all time, against Iceland. Cahill said: “We genuinely don’t know what the team is going to be at the minute. With the temperature what it was we have had a couple of days’ recovery – at least the lads who played against Panama have – and we don’t know what changes are going to be made. “It’s all about momentum. “I remember the game against Russia (Euro 2016 group stage) when we drew after conceding late on. That was massive.

“It felt like that the other day against Tunisia. Harry Kane said he thought it was another one of those days – if that game had finished in a draw then the difference would have been massive.

“Now we go into the Belgium game with no pressure, which is rare in a tournament, so we should enjoy it. The business end is yet to come.”