England captain Harry Kane was on the receiving end of another agonising defeat in European Championships final. After losing to Italy on penalties in 2020, England conceded a late goal and lost to Spain 2-1. Kane was once again underwhelming in the final. He has played for a combined 181 minutes in the Euro finals and has managed to get just one shot on target and one touch in the opposition box.
This may be the end of Gareth Southgate's run as England's manager. Southgate's England could not win their maiden European Championship title. In the 61st minute, Southgate had to replace Kane by Ollie Watkins. Kane handed the captain’s armband to Kyle Walker and went off the field.
After the defeat, he said that Spain punished them for losing possession.
"Losing in a final is as tough as it gets. We done really well to get back into the game, to get to 1-1. We could have used that momentum to push on. We couldn't quite keep the ball and we got punished for it, I don't know what to say. This is going to hurt for a long time," the 30-year-old told the broadcaster after the game.
"It's as painful as it could be in a football match," the Bayern Munich forward added after a long sigh.
When Kane wen off the field, England were trailing by one goal. 10 minutes later, Cole Palmer came on as substitute and delivered with an equaliser in the 73rd minute. But Spain’s substitute Mikel Oyarzabal scored in the 86th minute to lead Spain to their fourth Euro Championship title.
Kane rues missed chances
England searched for an equaliser in the dying stages of the game but Dani Olmo blocked Marco Guehi's header on the line.
"We didn't keep the same intensity and pressure, we didn't quite keep the ball well enough. It's the last stage of the tournament. There's a lot of tired legs, a lot of tired mentality there. We just struggled and obviously we got caught with the ball in behind," Kane said.
"These are down to big moments. We had a big moment at the end where they cleared one off the line and it could have been different. It's been a tough tournament. We've had to show a lot of resilience, me personally and the whole team. Right now, it's just a huge disappointment," he concluded.
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