Harry Kane: 'Tired' England were 'punished' in Euro 2024 final

England captain Harry Kane admitted that their Euro 2024 final defeat to Spain was 'as painful as it could be for a football match'.

The Three Lions lost 2-1 to Spain at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on Sunday evening. Nico Williams put La Roja ahead before Cole Palmer equalised, only for Mikel Oyarzabal to score a late winner.

Kane came into the tournament with a back injury and was hauled off after only 60 minutes in the final with England trailing 1-0. Speaking to BBC Sport post-match, he opened up on the hurt of losing a second-successive European Championship final.

"This is as tough as it gets," Kane said. "We did really well to get back into the game, get back to 1-1. We could have won it, used that momentum to push on. We couldn't quite keep the ball and then we got punished for it towards the end of the game. It's as painful as it could be for a football match.

"We didn't quite keep the same intensity and pressure [after Palmer's equaliser], we didn't quite keep the ball well enough. It's the last stage of the tournament, there's a lot of tired legs, a tired mentality. We just struggled, and then we got caught with the ball in behind.

"We needed big moments, and we had a big moment at the end there when they cleared it off the line and it could have been different. For now it's just really disappointing.

"It's been a tough tournament. There's been a lot of resilience from me and the team, a difficult road, we've done extremely well to get here."

When asked if the England team want manager Gareth Southgate to stay, Kane replied: "We've made it clear we love the manager, but that's his decision. It's not the time to talk about it now."

Speaking to ITV, Kane added: "It's hard to put into words how we're all feeling right now. Tough game. We did well to get back into the game and struggled to build on that. To concede late on is really tough to take.

"We've been coming from behind all tournament, we've got it in the locker. We didn't take the next step and win it.

"In the first half, we struggled. We couldn't keep the ball. Second half was better and we got the goal. We got caught with a cross and that's the final.

"It's an opportunity missed. These finals aren't easy to get to. You have to take it when it comes and we haven't done it again. It's extremely painful and it'll hurt for a long time.

"Gareth will go away and take time to decide. We wanted to win it for him."

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