Ollie Watkins has stated that he never believed he could play for the England national team at the Euro 2004 championship after netting the winner in Wednesday’s semi-final against the Netherlands.
The Aston Villa forward came on for Harry Kane with eight minutes left and scored the winner in added time when the game was poised for extra time.
It was a big statement from the player whose career began in League Two with Exeter City before going on to play for Brentford and now Villa.
“No. I never thought I’d be playing in the Euros for England. Obviously you can dream, but, you know, I’m…I’m a realist,” the 28-year-old said.
“I just take it day by day, one step at a time. And I was just focusing on, you know, getting back into the first team at Exeter. So, I’ve not thought about that, but, you know, I put in a lot of hard work to get to, to get to this point. It’s not just this season. It’s cumulative and I’ve worked hard to get to this point and, I’m going to enjoy every moment.”
Reacting to his winner, Watkins said: “Lost for words. Really? I was just trying to describe it to Andy. The…when you score, the emotions that come through your body.
“But this is just a different feeling. It was slow motion when I was running over to the boys and celebrating, and I was…I don’t want to get off the pitch at the end because I just wanted to soak it all in because it doesn’t happen often, obviously.”
81st minute: Comes off the bench.
90th minute: Sends England to the #EURO2024 final.Oliver George Arthur Watkins 👏 pic.twitter.com/Jx44TZNaj1
— England (@England) July 10, 2024
Watkins has failed to start a match at this Euros and only played once before Wednesday’s semi-final. He said it has been a frustrating experience especially after he had a brilliant season with Aston Villa but hopes he can make impact in Sunday’s final against Spain.
“To be honest, recently I’ve obviously got a little bit frustrated. I don’t like to be on the bench. I’ve had the best season of my career, and I’ve had a few messages from my friends just saying, be patient.
“You’re going to get an opportunity and they feel like I’ve got a big part to play in the tournament. The amount of people that have messaged me today saying, I’m going to score tonight when I come on, this is ridiculous.
“And obviously they’ve put it out into the universe. So hopefully they can do the same for the final or even give me the lottery numbers.”
Watkins scored 27 goals in 53 competitive games for Aston Villa last season, which were crucial towards a fourth place finish in the Premier League and reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League.
