Harry Kane opens up about England losing Euro 2024 to Spain: “as painful as it can be”

Harry Kane expressed deep anguish over England's Euro 2024 final loss to Spain, describing it as “as painful as it can be.” He emphasized the team's profound sense of hurt following Mikel Oyarzabal's late winning goal in Berlin.

Spain deserved their victory, but the England captain found little comfort in that. He once more appeared below his usual standards and was substituted for Ollie Watkins just after the hour mark.

England's quest for their first men's tournament win since 1966 remains unfulfilled after a night where Gareth Southgate remained silent on his future plans.

“Losing in a final is as tough as it gets,” shared Kane, who observed from the sidelines as Cole Palmer's excellent goal revived England's hopes until Spain's decisive strike in the 86th minute.

“We’ve done really well to get back into the game and then we couldn’t quite use that momentum to push on. We couldn’t quite keep the ball and we got punished for it towards the end. It’s as painful as it can be in a football match,” he expressed.

“It’s been a difficult ride. We’ve done extremely well to get here. We wanted to do it so badly for ourselves and also for the fans and everyone who’s believed in us the whole way.”

It's widely known that England's players are eager for Southgate, who is contemplating whether to continue his eight-year tenure, to guide them to the 2026 World Cup. “We love the manager but that’s his decision and this is not the time to talk about that now,” Kane said to the BBC.

“That’s down to him, he’ll go away and think about it. Right now we are just hurting.”