- Kyle Walker has opened up on Spain’s Euro 2024 final match-winning goal
- The England star said he had to wipe away the tears after the final in Germany
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Kyle Walker has admitted that Spain’s Euro 2024 match-winning goal ‘haunts’ him and believes he could have been ‘a bit quicker’ to shut down Marc Cucurella who set up Mikel Oyarzabal for the winner.
England had set out to avenge the heartache of their defeat in the final of Euro 2020, but Gareth Southgate‘s side again suffered the same fate as they did against Italy.
Walker also admitted that losing both finals ‘hurt a lot’ due to the Three Lions having a ‘better squad this time around’.
After a goalless first half, Nico Williams would leave England stunned, firing past Jordan Pickford from a tight angle.
England, who had struggled with to create scoring opportunities throughout Euro 2024, hit back through Cole Palmer, who levelled with a driven low shot into the far corner of the goal.
England star Kyle Walker has admitted that Spain’s Euro 2024 match-winning goal ‘haunts’ him
Walker (left) believes he could have been ‘a bit quicker’ to shut down Marc Cucurella (right) who set up Mikel Oyarzabal for the winner
Oyarzabal would seal victory in the 86th minute of the match, inflicting a heartbreaking defeat on England. But Walker, speaking to BBC Radio 5Live’s podcast, ‘You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker’ stated that he felt things could have been different, had he shut down Cucurella faster.
‘Yeah,’ the Man City star said, when asked whether Spain’s second goal ‘haunts’ him. Well, I got a boot on it. It’s kind of hit the bottom of my boot. The ball’s broke into the middle and it’s like I’ve seen no one was there.
‘And you think: “OK could you have pulled someone back? Could you have pulled someone else back? Could you have pulled a striker back on the holder? Could you have got the holder up a little more? Could then I have stopped the cross?”
‘He’s been able to run with the ball and play the ball into where he’s been able to, why was no one tracking him back?
‘But ultimately that ball, which is like sod’s law, that ball is the last one to go into the box which then goes into the back of the net. The centre halves, are they marking tight enough?’
He added: ‘You go through all the situations but ultimately the only thing you can control is your own.
Oyarzabal (right) would seal victory in the 86th minute of the match, inflicting a heartbreaking defeat on England
The England defender admitted that he had to ‘wipe a few tears away’ reflecting on the loss
‘I probably should have got down the line a bit quicker and tried to block it. Sod’s law.’
The Man City full back, 34, was one of England’s most experienced players at the tournament, having made 90 caps for the Three Lions during his career.
But after suffering the defeat, Walker admitted that he had to ‘wipe a few tears away’ reflecting on the loss.
When asked whether the defeat in Germany was worse than the one Gareth Southgate’s side suffered at Wembley in 2021, Walker replied: ‘No, it hurt a lot. It hurt a lot because probably the squad was better this time around.
‘We’d been through it once and it wasn’t like: “We’re here and we’re in new territory.”
Walker said the defeat by Spain ‘hurt a lot’ when comparing it to their defeat by Italy at Euro 2020
‘In the Italy game, we were definitely the better team and it went down to penalties and it’s always really hard to take losing on penalties,’ he added comparing the finals
‘Losing that at Wembley, from going a goal up to conceding at a corner – which we never do. I feel like Spain were definitely the better team. I thought we were trying to snatch and grab.
‘But in the Italy game, we were definitely the better team and it went down to penalties and it’s always really hard to take losing on penalties.’
