High five: Bukayo Saka celebrates with Luke Shaw after scoring for England. — Reuters
DORTMUND: Jadon Sancho has praised Bukayo Saka for his redemptive penalty for England at Euro 2024 that went some way to banishing the memories of their high-profile shootout misses at the previous tournament in 2021.
Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Saka either missed or had their spot kicks saved in the shootout won by Italy in the European Championship final at Wembley Stadium in 2021. They are all black players and they received vicious racist abuse on social media afterward.
Saka was one of the five England players to score in the shootout win over Switzerland in the Euro 2024 quarterfinals on Saturday and Sancho sent a heartwarming message to his friend.
“I’m so proud of this guy!” Sancho wrote about Saka on his Instagram story.
“You did it for me and Marcus, brother!”
Sancho and Rashford, who play for Manchester United, were left out of England’s squad for Euro 2024.
After the Switzerland game, Saka said penalties were “something I embrace” and added that he used the difficulties he experienced three years ago ”to make me stronger.”
“You can fail once but you have a choice if you put yourself in that position or not again,” Saka said.
“I’m a guy who is going to put myself in that position. I believed in myself. And when I saw the ball hit the back of the net, I was a very happy man.” — AP
