England pundit Gary Neville spots recurring issue in Three Lions crushing Euro 2024 final defeat

Gary Neville reckons England's dramatic loss to Spain in the final of Euro 2024 once again showed Gareth Southgate''s men's inability to turn up when it matters most has cost them dearly.

Gareth Southgate's men looked set to send the game to extra time thanks to Cole Palmer's equaliser, only for Spain substitute Mikel Oyarzabal to net the all important winner four minutes from time to seal his nation's fourth European title. It was a second successive European Championship final defeat for the Three Lions, following their penalty shootout loss to Italy in the delayed Euro 2021 showpiece event three years ago.

England have also reached a semi final and a quarter final of the World Cup during Southgate's tenure, but have always fallen short by the slimmest of margins. A bitterly disappointed Neville said on ITV: "They (Spain) had a lot of chances. We got back into it and could have been 2-0 up before that.

"I have to say to not control the biggest games has been a problem for England teams in many, many tournaments. To have to play with men behind the ball and to try and then get them up the pitch can be very, very difficult. You can win the odd game doing that but eventually you'll play against a team with too much quality and that is what happened here tonight."

Fellow pundit Roy Keane added: "They lack quality. It's probably that fight and desire off the bench that has got them this far. But top level sport is brutal and sometimes the opposition are just better than you. You have to step back and be humble, admit you have got beat by better team, regroup and go again."