Gareth Southgate hoping to turn England’s dream into reality

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 penalty the key moment in that defeat.

That moment was brought up in the press conference with Southgate and captain Harry Kane, with the pair asked if they believed in fate given