Fabian passing on fever to pals

FABIAN DELPH has told his team-mates about the World Cup fever gripping the nation after returning home for the birth of his third daughter.

Gareth Southgate gave the midfielder permission to fly home on a private jet with Manchester City team-mate Vincent Kompany’s wife and children after the loss to Belgium.

He missed the last-16 clash with Colombia but joked Jordan Henderson’s shoot-out miss helped induce labour.

Delph, who came on as a substitute against Sweden, said: “My wife was a few days over, which is why I missed the last 16. I was comfortable with that because I knew we had more than enough in the dressing room to win that game and I watched it at home.

“I think it was the penalties that brought on the labour. I’ve got Hendo to thank for that! During the game she was diving about watching and she then went into hospital afterwards. She had the baby, everything was fine, I flew back, had a session with the lads, and to get some minutes in the quarter-final was absolutely fantastic.

“It’s been one of the best weeks of my life.”

Delph was blown away by the reaction of the public back home.

“It is crazy. I tried to explain to some of the boys what it is like back home. We are out here in Russia our bubble, our circle, and we do not have outside distractions so we are not aware of what is going on,” he said.

“But going back was incredible. The support I felt was absolutely amazing, even people who are not into football are stopping me on the school run and shouting and saying, ‘Make sure you bring it home’.”

Delph revealed he had even trained at City while he was in England to keep himself ticking over.

“I had a schedule to keep to,” he said. “I went into the City training ground twice to get some pitch sessions and I did home sessions in my gym. I definitely did not want to lose any fitness or focus.” SWEDEN defender Victor Lindelof set aside the biggest disappointment of his career to tell his England pals: “I hope you go on win it now.”

Lindelof sought out Manchester United teammates Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones after the match and he said: “They gave me a hug. I congratulated them and wished them all the best. I will be cheering for them now because they are my friends.”

Lindelof was one of Sweden’s best performers on the day but that was no consolation to him. “It’s hard to take,” he said. “It’s the biggest disappointment of my career so far.”