Southgate says Foden decision was "heartbreaking" after England star’s injury

Gareth Southgate has admitted the decision to leave Phil Foden out of his squad for the Euro 2020 final was "heartbreaking".

Foden missed the final training session before the clash with Italy due to injury and was one of three left out of the 23-man squad.

The Manchester City ace is struggling with a foot injury and will not feature at Wembley having started England's first game of the tournament.

And Southgate admitted it was not easy for himself or the player to be left out of the squad.

The Three Lions boss said: "It’s very difficult. It’s not something that’s going to keep him out for a long time, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to run properly yesterday.

“It’s heartbreaking for him and a disappointment for us.

“It’s an occasion that, every message you read and everybody you see, gets you more excited about.

“But we have to make good decisions on the field, we’ve got to make sure that we play with discipline.

“We’ve also got to make sure we bring our best game, it’s not a day to sit and be safe and worry about making mistakes. We’ve got to be bold.”

England take on Italy in their first major final since winning the World Cup back in 1966.

Southgate added: “We’ve had an incredible journey to the ground, people lining the route.

“People of every religion, every colour, every heritage, it was brilliant to see how it’s brought everyone together.

“Italy cause you a tactical problem, they’ve got a familiar way of playing and it’s a problem that ‘s difficult to resolve with a winger because he ends up defending in your own third of the pitch.

“So we want to keep our attacking players a lot higher up, which we hope is going to cause them a problem on the counter attack as well."

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