England captain Harry Kane was clattered by Manuel Akanji in the second half of extra-time during the Three Lions’ Euro 2024 quarter-final with Switzerland, forcing the striker to be substituted off through injury before the penalty shoot-out.
Kane had been chasing a ball into the channel when Manchester City defender Akanji followed him and bumped the striker before he flew into the advertisement boards.
The skipper tumbled past Gareth Southgate on the sideline and could be seen holding his thigh before promptly being taken off for Brentford’s Ivan Toney.
With the match heading towards a penalty shoot-out, at 1-1 at the time of Kane’s substitution, Southgate would have been banking on Kane to step up from 12 yards should neither side claim a late winner.
However, in Toney, a suitable replacement from the spot did arrive onto the pitch having made a positive impact off the bench in the previous round when his header set up Kane’s winner against Slovakia.
But England did not need Kane to advance, as Cole Palmer, Bellingham, Bukayo Saka, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold scored all five penalties while Akanji missed to send the Three Lions through.
However, despite England progressing, they will be fearful of the availability of their talisman Kane for the semi-final against either Holland or Turkey, with a thigh problem that was deemed serious enough to force him off 10 minutes before a penalty shoot-out.