"Fine margins" as Southgate's England miss out on a trophy again

BERLIN : If Marc Guehi's last-gasp header had hit the net maybe England would have gone on to become European champions on Sunday but instead Dani Olmo cleared off the line and it was Spain who took the glory and handed Gareth Southgate another agonising defeat.

Having come from behind for the fourth game in a row and seemingly on course to take the final to extra time, England were sunk by Mikel Oyarzabal's 86th-minute strike in a 2-1 loss as they suffered a second successive final defeat after going down on penalties to Italy at Wembley three years ago.

Spain deserved to win Sunday's showpiece match - England coming alive only after falling behind - but the jury remains out on Southgate.

His record speaks for itself in terms of getting England to the latter stages of tournaments in the last six years, but critics will say that having got so close he could have done even better with a bit more bravery in his selections.

After Sunday's loss Southgate admitted captain Harry Kane was below his best following an injury but he had continued to pick him while Cole Palmer, who equalised in the final, remained a substitute despite being England's most creative player all month.

England came into the tournament as favourites, with Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden freshly crowned as players of the year in Spain and England respectively, Kane with 44 goals to his name at Bayern Munich and Declan Rice on fire.

They faced a group containing Serbia, Denmark and Slovenia and most observers were assuming there would be a smooth path through the round of 16 for a potential quarter-final showdown with France.

That did not come off - due to France's struggles - and though England duly won the group with five points and got past Slovakia in their