Luke Shaw has urged his England teammates to support Bukayo Saka after the Arsenal youngster failed to score a crucial penalty in Sunday night’s Euro 2020 final.
Nineteen-year-old Saka was one of three England players to miss from the spot as Italy lifted the trophy after a 1-1 draw at Wembley.
Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford – who will both be teammates of Shaw at Manchester United next season – also suffered shootout malfunctions.
But it was Saka who looked the most visibly distraught after seeing his spot-kick saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Saka was seen sobbing while hugging manager Gareth Southgate, who is no stranger to penalty heartbreak after seeing a spot-kick of his own saved in this competition 25 years ago.
Speaking of Saka after the game, Shaw was quoted by Metro Sport as saying: “He’s devastated. But I think the most important thing for us now as a team is obviously to be there for him.
We gave him a big hug, told him to keep his head up, it happens. It’s a penalty shootout, anything can happen as a lot of people know. It’s an experience he’ll learn from but we’re all behind him, he knows that.
“Not just him, Rashy and Sanch, we’re with them all, we win as a team and lose as a team. There’s no individuals who cost that.”
Saka is the fourth youngest ever player to play in a European Championship final.
He entered the action as a 70th-minute substitute when he replaced right-back Kieran Tripper, who had earlier set up Shaw to give England a 1-0 lead.
England were the much better side in the first 45 minutes, but Italy grew into the game after half time and were good value for Leonardo Bonucci’s equaliser.
Harry Kane and Harry Maguire scored for England in the shootout, before Rashford, Sancho and Saka failed.
Domenico Berardi, Bonucci and Federico Bernardeschi were on target for Italy, while Andrea Belotti and Jorginho had their penalties saved by England keeper Jordan Pickford.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com