Euro 2024 – live: England reaction, news and analysis after penalty heroics

Toni Kroos has apologised for injuring Pedri in Germany’s Euro 2024 loss to Spain, insisting it was “not my intention”.

Pedri was forced off in the first few minutes of the quarter-final on Friday (5 July), having hit the turf after a foul from Kroos.

Another game for England without entertaining the masses, but another step closer to the Euro 2024 final – and perhaps another hint as to where the future lies, whether that comes during this tournament or not.

Not from another one-paced, uninventive display. Not with the supposed tactical shift either, which did little to change the speed of England’s play or the way they constantly checked inside to play safe and create too little. But if the original 90 minutes didn’t contain sufficient drama, their second late equaliser in as many matches and a subsequent penalty shootout victory perhaps offered just enough.

Instead, the big positives for England to take might be from what they didn’t do to start with: the changes made, the introductions of personnel and pace, the ability they clearly possess to alter their approach in important stages of games.

Footballing greats such as Antonie Griezmann, Fernando Torres, Alan Shearer and Gerd Muller are among those who have won the prestigious prize of the Golden Boot throughout the history of the Euros and the likes of Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe and Cody Gakpo are hoping to join them this time around.

Some players have got off to a fast start but others have still got plenty of work to do in order to challenge at the top of the standings as we advance through the knockout stages.

Plenty of sides have spread the goals around in their opening three matches, with Spain having four different scorers for example and Germany seeing six on the scoresheet already – including two players with a pair of strikes to their name.

But the more remarkable stat might be in a very different type of strike: the own goal, with Euro 2024 quickly becoming the tournament of them.

Across 16 editions of the men’s European Championship before this summer in Germany, a total of just 20 own goals had been scored ever – and a massive 11 of them came in the last version, the cross-Europe tournament held in 2021.

But that record is under threat, with ten scored so far. Here’s a complete list of players to score an own goal this summer:

The first half showed flashes of improvement from a slightly altered Three Lions line-up, and Gareth Southgate’s side dominated, but they were too often pedestrian as Switzerland looked comfortable in defence.

Here are The Independent’s player ratings:

Jadon Sancho has praised Bukayo Saka for his redemptive penalty for England football team at the European Championship that went some way to banishing the memories of their high-profile shootout misses at the previous tournament in 2021.

Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Saka either missed or had their spot kicks saved in the shootout won by Italy at the Euro 2020 final at Wembley Stadium. They are all Black players and they received vicious racist abuse on social media afterward.

Jude Bellingham was able to banish “awful memories” of watching previous England penalties as he scored in the shoot-out against Switzerland to help seal a Euro 2024 semi-final spot.

After Bukayo Saka’s fine effort cancelled out Breel Embolo’s opener in Dusseldorf, the two sides could not be separated with the game ending 1-1 after extra time.

It was a far cry from the Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy, where England missed three of their spot-kicks but, while plenty of previous tournaments have also ended in penalty heartache, Gareth Southgate has now overseen three wins in four shoot-outs as manager.

Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey all fell at the quarter-final stage, as Spain set up a mouth-watering clash with France and England squeezed through to face Netherlands.

The semi-finals will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday night, before Sunday’s final in Berlin.

Here is the full fixture schedule for the Euro 2024 knockout stages:

Newcastle centre-back Fabian Schar hopes his club manager Eddie Howe is not in the frame to replace Gareth Southgate, if the England boss steps down after Euro 2024.

Schar was in the Swiss side beaten by the Three Lions in the quarter-final, and it was put to him that Howe has been mentioned as a possible successor – a notion he’s not fond of.

“Well, actually I hope he will stay at Newcastle. Because if you see the work he’s done over last few years, I think you know he has a lot of quality and knows how to handle a big club and team,” he said.

“I mean, for myself as well, he did very well and I’m really happy to have him as a manager, so hopefully he stays at Newcastle. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

It’s getting towards time to decide which one you’ll watch on that occasion – and England might yet be there.

Here is the full list of pundits, commentators and presenters for this summer’s coverage: