Gareth Southgate proud of England’s players despite European Championship final defeat

Gareth Southgate reckoned England’s players had done “themselves proud” despite losing to Italy in the final of the European Championships.

South Londoner Jadon Sancho missed England’s fourth penalty. The Borussia Dortmund attacker only came on in the closing stages of extra time along with Marcus Rashford, clearly for spot-kick duties. But the latter also failed to convert.

England took the lead when Kieran Trippier found Luke Shaw, who converted from close range. Italy equalised just after the hour mark – Leonardo Bonucci tapping home from a corner.

Jordan Pickford saved from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho in the shootout. But England’s final three efforts were unsuccessful.

Speaking to ITV, Southgate said: “We prepared as well as we could for the penalty shootout. That’s my responsibility I chose the guys to take the kicks.

“In the end, we weren’t quite able to see the game out in normal time. Italy showed that they are an outstanding side. Our players have done themselves proud.

“It’s the first time we’ve got to a final in a long time and we’re obviously very disappointed that we haven’t managed to go one step further.

“After the game, I told the players that nobody is on their own. We decided to make the changes right at the end of the game. The players have given everything.

“It was my decision to give Bukayo a penalty, that’s totally my responsibility. We’ve worked together on that order. That’s the order we decided on.

“That’s always the risk you run [Sancho and Rashford taking penalties after not featuring much in the tournament]. It was a gamble.

“We started well, our system worked. We got the goal because of the overload of our wing backs. They were bound to have a spell where they came into the game and we didn’t keep the ball well enough.

“We changed our shape to try and get more of a grip on the game. We lacked composure in the game.

“You have to have a balance to the team. You can’t just roll on five or six attacking players, otherwise you lose all your shape.

“It’s hard to reflect on the game at the moment because the disappointment is enormous for all of us. But this group of players have done themselves proud.

“We’ve given everybody some fantastic nights, but we wanted to give them one more. We were so close to doing that. It’s hard to put that into words.

“This was a wonderful opportunity and at the moment I need to let this sink in before I think about the World Cup in Qatar.”