Gareth Southgate about England penalty decision after Luke Shaw and Raheem Sterling criticism

Gareth Southgate has taken responsibility for his team's defeat and has defended the England players who missed the penalties in the shootout against Italy in Sunday's Euro 2020 final. The Three Lions faced Italy in the EURO 2020 final on July 11 at Wembley Stadium. The match ended with Italy's victory, as the Azzurri won with a score of 3-2 on penalties and were crowned EURO 2020 champions for the second time in their history. Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford came off the bench to take a penalty but both missed, while 19-year-old Bukayo Saka's decisive fifth penalty was saved. Seeing the youngster take the most important penalty has led to some critism against senior players like Luke Shaw, Raheem Sterling and John Stones for not stepping forward. Southgate, though, has revealed the list was decided based on what the players had done during practice in the build-up: "Then it’s my decision who takes the penalties, it’s not a case of players not volunteering or more experienced players backing out, they didn’t have the chance, that was my job, nobody else’s. I decided on the penalty-takers based on what they have done in training. We’ve still got huge belief in them." He also added: "Those boys have done a brilliant job. We heal together as a team now, we’re there for them. I know 99% of the public will be as well because they will appreciate how well they’ve played, Bukayo especially has been an absolute star in this tournament, incredible maturity with the way he’s played and he’s brought a smile to so many faces. He’s become a hugely popular member of the group and I know that he’s got everybody’s support."   Source: ManchesterEveningNews Join us on Telegram!/ Follow us on Twitter!

Roy Keane slams Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish after Euro 2020 final defeat