Harry Kane admitted he ‘would have loved to have played better’ in England’s defeat to Spain in the Euro 2024 final but refused to blame concerns over his back injury for his performance.
England became the first team in the history of the European Championship to lose in two consecutive finals after they were beaten 2-1 by Spain in Berlin on Sunday evening.
Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal in the 86th minute sealed the win for Spain after Cole Palmer’s excellent strike had cancelled out Nico Williams’ opener for La Roja, who have won the tournament for a record-breaking fourth time.
Kane, meanwhile, struggled to make an impact once again and the Bayern Munich striker was replaced by Ollie Watkins after just 61 minutes played.
The England captain came into the tournament after suffering a back injury at Bayern and he even required pain-killing injections in order to play for the German club before he missed their final game of the season in May.
Thomas Tuchel, who was Bayern’s head coach last season, revealed that Kane was even struggling with ‘everyday movements’ before he linked up with England’s squad for Euro 2024.
When asked if the back injury he suffered before the tournament had an impact on his performances for England, Kane told BBC Five Live after the loss to Spain: ‘No, it’s time to talk about personal things.
‘The tournament plays out in different situations. You deal with a lot as a player throughout these tournaments.
‘Everyone is dealing with issues and you’re at your maximum physical capabilities and it was just the way the game panned out today and the way the tournament’s gone.
‘Of course, from a personal point of view I would have loved to have played better tonight and it would’ve been a different outcome but unfortunately it wasn’t.’
Speaking about the decision to substitute Kane in the final, Southgate said: ‘I think Harry has come into the tournament having had an injury at the end of the season.
‘He’s played a lot of minutes, we’ve tried to manage those minutes as well as we could.
‘He’s led the team incredibly well. We’ve lost a lot of leadership from the group with injuries to [Jordan] Henderson and [Harry] Maguire, so a lot has fallen on Harry’s shoulders, he’s done that exceptionally well.
‘We just felt we needed to get more pressure on their centre-backs and have an option of a runner in behind which is why we put Ollie [Watkins] on when we did.’
In a separate interview about Kane’s performance to ITV, Southgate said:’Physically it has been tough for him.
‘He came into the tournament short on games and has not quite reached the level we all would have hoped.
‘The games are hugely demanding and we thought Ollie’s freshness would allow us to press better and offer a press in behind. I thought the substitutes came on and did what we asked them to do.’