Bukayo Saka: England players are two games away from ‘changing our lives’

Bukayo Saka believes he and his England team-mates are two games away from “changing our lives” after earning European Championship penalty shoot-out redemption in the quarter-final victory over Switzerland.

Saka, who was one of the players who missed in the shoot-out defeat by Italy in the final of the Euros in 2021, was one of the scorers as England beat Switzerland 5-3 on penalties to clinch a place in the semi-finals of this year’s tournament.

Arsenal forward Saka also scored the equaliser that took the quarter-final to spot-kicks, in which goalkeeper Jordan Pickford saved from Manuel Akanji and Trent Alexander-Arnold netted the winning penalty.

“We know there are two more games until we can change our lives and make some history that’s never been made before,” said Saka. “We’re really focused on that, we’re going to enjoy tonight and obviously focus on the next game, and be ready for that when the time comes.”

England manager Gareth Southgate recognised his team are now trying to create two pieces of history, as they prepare for Wednesday night’s semi-final against the Netherlands in Dortmund.

“Now we want to be able to deliver one more thing,” said Southgate. “We’ve never been to a final outside England, we’ve never won a Euros, those are two bits of history we’d love to create.”

Saka acknowledged that he had exercised some demons by scoring in the shoot-out success over Switzerland for England, following his 2021 miss.

“I think for me it’s something I embrace,” said Saka. “You can fail once, but you have a choice whether you put yourself in that position again or not. I’m a guy who is going to put myself in that position. I believed in myself. When I saw the ball hit the net, I was a very happy man.

“I’m not going to be focusing on the past. That’s done. I can only focus on now and taking a penalty. Of course, I know there’s a lot of nervous people watching, my family included, and in the crowd. But I kept my cool and I scored.

“I have faith in God. To come back from something like that is really difficult, today I took the chance.

“Obviously for myself, I believe we have some of the best takers in the Premier League and the world, if it did come to penalties we would be confident – we showed that.”

Southgate said: “It was so brave from Bukayo, he is one of our best and we were never in question he would take one. But we all knew what he went through.

“He’s a dream to work with, he’s a fabulous boy, such a good professional, so much fun to be around. Does an amazing job with and without the ball.

“I gave him a massive cuddle on the pitch. He’s a special boy, wonderful to work with. You’re pleased for everybody, but especially for him. It takes courage, but we had belief in him. We had belief in him previously.

“His all-round performance was exceptional. To give us the outlet in the one-versus-one situations, which we felt could be an advantage for us. His performance was immense.”

Southgate paid tribute to all of England’s goalscoring penalty takers, Saka, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Ivan Toney and Trent Alexander-Arnold, as well as Pickford.

“We’ve got a good process,” said Southgate. “We’ve been in four [shoot-outs] and we’ve won three. We got crucified for the one we lost [in the final]. It’s outcome based.

“We’ve refined that process a bit. We have more regular takers in the squad than back then. We have a calm process. But the players have to do it and there were so many stories within that. Cole taking his first penalty, Bukayo with his history, Jude you almost dismiss it, but he’s still young. 

“Ivan, who knew he had been put on for the possibility of penalties, and then Trent, who easily could have thought his moment had gone. I’m so so proud of him. And you’ve got Jordan who is always going to save one.”

Wednesday night’s semi-final in Dortmund will be England’s third in their last four major tournament appearances and Southgate hailed his team’s sticking power.

Kane will be ready for semi-final

“Huge performance, huge result and we are still in it,” said Southgate. “We had to be tactically spot on. We are in a third semi-final and it says a lot about the whole group. I thought we had good control.

“With England [in the past], we weren’t savvy, tournament-wise. This group is different. In general we’ve shown the resilience that teams that win tournaments have had for years and years. Italy and Spain, it’s not all pure football. We’re showing a little bit more of that streetwise nature.”

England captain Harry Kane was forced off in extra-time, when he was replaced by Toney, after colliding into the dug-out, but insisted he will be ready for the semi-finals.

“I’m good,” said Kane. “I had double cramp in my calf. Penalties, it is like for like because Ivan [Toney] is incredible. I will be fine.”

Southgate had beer cups thrown at him by angry England fans earlier in the tournament, but celebrated in front of the supporters in Dusseldorf following the penalty shoot-out win.

He said: “Every now and then you think surely there has to be some enjoyment in this job. If I can’t enjoy that moment, then the whole thing is a waste of time. 

“I love the players, I loved being in that moment with them. I took this job to help. I can’t deny, when it’s as personal, as it’s been in recent weeks, it’s difficult. But we’re still fighting.”