BERLIN: The Three Lions’ second successive defeat in the Euro 2024 showpiece game will “hurt for a long time”, says captain Harry Kane.
Speaking with ITV, the England captain, who was subbed off after 60 minutes, said the latest major tournament heartbreak after Spain’s late winner was “tough to take”.
“It’s hard to put into words how we’re all feeling right now... We did well to get back into the game and struggled to build on that,” added Kane.
England lost the Euro 2020 final on penalties to Italy at Wembley, having made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup two years earlier. England were also eliminated at the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup by eventual finalists France, with Kane missing a late penalty.
“We’ve been coming from behind all tournament, we’ve got it in the locker. We didn’t take the next step and win it,” Kane said.
“The second half was better and we got the goal. We got caught with a cross and that’s the final.”
Despite a stellar individual career with numerous goalscoring honours, the 30-year-old Kane is yet to win a team trophy.
Prior to Sunday’s match, Kane said he would gladly “swap everything in my career” for Euros glory.
The forward finished with three goals at the tournament, the equal most, but struggled with a back injury.
“It’s an opportunity missed. These finals aren’t easy to get to. You have to take it when it comes and we haven’t done it again. It’s extremely painful and it’ll hurt for a long time.” — AFP
