England suffered yet another heartbreak in a tournament after losing against Spain in the Euro 2024 final.
The Three Lions reached the final after beating Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands in the knockout stage of the competition.
Gareth Southgate’s team needed a late goal to win the match or a penalty shootout to win all the matches of the knockout rounds.
However, they could do nothing of that sort in the final and instead lost the match to a late goal from Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal.
Cole Palmer gave the Three Lions some hope with a goal in the second half but it was just not meant to be for Southgate and his players.
According to Daily Star, England players Declan Rice and Jordan Pickford were involved in a heated row during the match against Spain.
The midfielder was upset with the goalkeeper when the Three Lions lost the ball and gave possession back to Spain.
The England players, as per the report, were told by their manager to play out from the back, a tactic that has been mastered by Spain.
In doing so, Pickford picked out Phil Foden who could not deal with Spain’s high press and lost the ball to Spanish midfielder Fabian Ruiz.
The Spaniard then released winger Lamine Yamal who came close to scoring but his shot was eventually blocked by centre-back Marc Guehi.
That sequence of play sparked an argument between Arsenal midfielder Rice and Everton goalkeeper Pickford.
The midfielder told his goalkeeper to “calm down”, suggesting that the goalkeeper should be careful with the ball in possession.
However, Pickford was not happy with Rice pointing him out and argued to defend himself, suggesting that it was Foden’s fault who lost the ball.
In the end, Rice walked away from the scene cooling down the situation before it could get worse.
Southgate’s team failed to perform at the level expected from them and they would now regret the opportunity they have wasted.
They got favourable fixtures in the knockout rounds as all the other favourtite teams including Spain, Germany and France were at the other end of the draw.
It was a huge opportunity for them to finally end their trophy drought but they failed at the final stage again.
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