Italy win Euro 2020 on penalties: Roy Keane unhappy Bukayo Saka was chosen for decisive penalty
Roy Keane has lambasted the senior England players who allowed Bukayo Saka to take the decisive penalty in England’s shootout defeat to Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
Saka’s penalty was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma as England suffered heartbreak at Wembley.
The 19-year-old has never taken a penalty for his club side, Arsenal, and yet was given the responsibility of taking the all-important fifth kick in the shootout.
“If you’re (Raheem) Sterling or (Jack) Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid [Saka] go up for a penalty ahead of you, you can’t,” Keane told ITV. “You cannot let a shy 19-year-old go up in front of you. They have a lot more experience, Sterling has won trophies, they had to get in front of the young kid and stand up.”
- Italy 1-1 England (3-2 on penalties) – Match report
- How the teams lined up | In-depth stats and analysis
England’s other penalty misses were by 21-year-old Jadon Sancho and 23-year-old Marcus Rashford, both of whom had performed peripheral roles in the tournament and were brought on in the final minute of extra-time.
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England’s only successful penalty takers were Harry Maguire and Harry Kane.
“I chose the penalty takers based on what we’ve done in training and nobody is on their own. We’ve won together as a team and it’s absolutely on all of us in terms of not being able to win the game tonight,” said England boss Gareth Southgate.
“But in terms of the penalties, that’s my call and totally rests with me.”
Reaction to England’s penalty shootout defeat
More than a team. We're family. ❤️
We'll stick together no matter what. pic.twitter.com/1p4CJNHWXY
Football can be so cruel.
But for your personality. For your character. For your bravery…
We’ll always be proud of you. And we can’t wait to have you back with us, @BukayoSaka87 ❤️ pic.twitter.com/a6fVTb0y1j
Jadon Sancho, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford being racially abused on social media. And this is why #ENG players will continue to take a knee. Also, Twitter and Instagram have to be quicker and stronger to stop these hate crimes on their platforms.
A 19-year-old Saka stepping forward to take that fifth penalty. Players of far greater experience, even subbed on and subbed off, clearly didn’t fancy it. Immense bravery. It will not define him #ENG
Thought Saka was just about the best thing to emerge from this tournament for England. What a talent. He'll be a big part of England teams for a long time to come.
Reflecting on his own penalty miss 25 years ago, Southgate said on Friday: "Those sorts of moments in your life don’t have to define you."
This is now true for Saka, Rashford and Sancho. Nobody better to console them.
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