Bukayo Saka revealed he forgot all about his penalty shootout miss in the Euro 2020 final before stepping up to the responsibility in England’s Euro 2024 quarter-final with Switzerland on Saturday.
The Arsenal winger of Nigerian heritage famously missed a spot kick, along with Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho, against Italy three years ago at Wembley, which denied the Three Lions lifting their first-ever Euro title.
Saka however drew level against the Swiss and cooly converted in the shootout after the game in Dusseldorf ended 1-1 following extra time.
“No, I’m not going to be focusing on the past. That’s done. I can only focus on now. And taking the penalty, of course, I know there’s a lot of nervous people watching, my family included in the crowd. But, I kept my cool and I scored,” the 22-year-old said when quizzed on bus state of mind before taking the penalty.
He added: “From myself, I believe, we have some of the best takers in the Premier League and in the world. So, we’ve talked about it before. If it did come to penalties we would be pretty confident. And yeah, I’m happy we showed that today. We scored five out of five and we’re through to the next round.”
Came up clutch ✊@Vivo_GLOBAL | #EUROPOTM pic.twitter.com/bBtBX0hLfQ
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 6, 2024
Speaking on Saka’s performance, England manager Gareth Southgate said: “He’s a special boy. He’s a dream to work with. Wonderful family. And of course, you’re pleased for everybody, but him especially when his went in.
“Yeah, that takes courage, but we have belief in him. We had belief in him previously. He’s now got a lot more experience of those pressure moments. And yeah, his all-round performance exceptional.”
England are making consecutive semi-final appearances at the Euros for the very first time in their history.
