Gareth Southgate has reacted to claims England could be destined to win Euro 2024 by insisting: “I don't believe in fairy tales, but I believe in dreams.”
The Three Lions will face Spain in Berlin on Sunday 28 years after Germany's victory in London at Euro '96, a tournament forever remembered in England for Southgate's decisive penalty miss in the semi-final shoot-out as a player.
This summer, England needed a 95th-minute equaliser to force extra time before winning their last-16 tie against Slovakia before beating Switzerland on penalties in the quarter-finals.
At Saturday's pre-match press conference, Southgate and captain Harry Kane were asked if they both believed in destiny, given that they could now turn things around and win in Germany. Kane said: “You can answer that question. You were in '96. I was only three years old!”
Southgate replied: “I was there, very there; I was probably one of the most popular Englishmen in Berlin, I imagine.
“Look, I don't believe in fairy tales, but I do believe in dreams, and we've had big dreams.
“We feel the need and importance of that, but then you have to make those things happen.
“And fate, the run we've had, the late goals, the penalties, that doesn't mean it's our time. We have to get it done tomorrow. We have to perform at the level we need to perform at.”
“Of course it would be a beautiful story, but it is in our hands and our performance is the most important thing.”
Southgate, who has all 26 players available for Sunday's final, has overseen a huge turnaround in England's fortunes since taking charge in 2016, guiding England to two successive European Championship finals, plus a 2018 World Cup semi-final and quarter-final in Qatar.
But the 53-year-old admitted England must take that final step to be considered a European power again, having waited 58 years for a major men's honour.
“Sometimes you have to go through tough nights as a team,” Southgate said. “We tried to change the mentality from the start. We tried to be more honest about where we were as a footballing nation.”
“I've travelled to World Cups, to Euros, to watch games as an observer and I've seen videos of the highlights before the games that were shown on the big screen before the game, and we weren't in any of them. Because they only show the finals and the big games. We needed to change that.
“We had high expectations, but they didn't live up to our performance. The expectations are still there, but we've had consistent performances in three of the last four tournaments and also a quarter-final in the fourth.
“In the end, you always have to be in the later stages of tournaments to be able to learn how to win those big matches. We are learning that; we have been through a lot of big nights so far.
“We've broken a lot of records, but we know that in the end we have to achieve it, we have to get this trophy to feel really respected by the rest of the football world, I guess.”
Kane has never won a trophy in his career despite a glittering series of individual achievements, including becoming Tottenham's and England's all-time top scorer. The 30-year-old scored 44 goals in 45 games in all competitions last season but Bayern Munich missed out on the Bundesliga title for the first time in 12 years.
Asked if he would trade those personal achievements for winning the Euros, Kane said: “Of course. It's no secret that I haven't won a team trophy. Every year that goes by, you get more motivated and more determined to change that, and tomorrow I have the chance to win one of the biggest trophies you can win and make history with my nation, which I'm very proud of being English for.”
“So yeah, there's no doubt about it. I would give everything in my career to have a special night and win tomorrow. It's a lot of hard work between now and then and I'm determined to make tomorrow a special night.”
