‘We’re excited’ says Gareth Southgate as England aim to end their trophy drought

Gareth Southgate says he is “not a believer in fairytales but a believer in dreams” as the England boss attempts to mastermind a historic European Championship final win against Spain.

A summer that started with underwhelming performances and grumbles from fans and pundits alike ends in Berlin on Sunday with just a third ever major men’s final appearance.

Spain stand in their way of becoming kings of the continent for the first time, having lost their first European final in heartbreaking fashion against Italy at Wembley in 2021.

Southgate’s side return to that stage 1,099 days on from that Euro 2020 shoot-out loss ready to grasp their opportunity to make history against Spain at the cavernous Olympiastadion.

“We’re excited for the challenge,” the England boss said on the eve of the Euro 2024 final. “Clearly the team have improved over the last few weeks, showing tremendous character and resilience.

“I have to say they’ve been a privilege to work with every day on the training pitch, the whole squad fully committed to every session, so it’s been a great environment to work in.

“Now we have a fabulous opportunity tomorrow to achieve what we set out (to), really, from the moment we left Qatar a bit earlier than we’d have liked to (by losing in the World Cup quarter-finals).”

Southgate says “there’s a real desire to make this count having walked past that trophy” in 2021 at Wembley, where he also suffered heartache 28 years ago.

England lost their Euro 96 semi-final to Germany on penalties at the old ground, with the 57-cap former defender’s saved spot-kick the key moment in that defeat.

“I’m not a believer in fairytales but I am a believer in dreams, and we’ve had big dreams. We’ve felt the need and the importance of that, but then you have to make those things happen,” Southgate said.

“And fate, the run that we’ve had, the late goals, the penalties, that doesn’t equate to it being our moment. We have to make it happen tomorrow.

“We have to perform at the level that we need to perform. Of course it would be a lovely story but it’s in our hands and our performance is the most important thing.”

Meanwhile, Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente insists there are “no favourites” ahead of the game.

Spain have been lauded as the team to beat. They did not concede a goal during the group stage before beating Georgia, hosts Germany and then World Cup finalists France to seal a place in the final.

“We are serene, we have never lost perspective,” said de la Fuente when asked about the favourites tag given to Spain.

“We know the kind of analysis that people do on the outside but we think our own way.

“We know there is no favourite tomorrow, it is a very, very equal game. Favourites? We will leave that for betting houses and stuff like that.

“We know that if we don’t play above the level we have shown so far, are not completely focused – we won’t be able to win tomorrow if we don’t do all of that.

“But I know my team has all of that, with maximum respect for our rival, we are very focused on trying to win tomorrow. They have their own strengths but we will try and impose our own strengths.

“We have the right to feel really proud about what we have done because there is a big present but a huge future.

“To see the whole country so excited about the national team, whatever happens, it is a wonderful feeling.”