'Not letting someone else retire me' - I thought my England and Man City career was over, now I'm undroppable for both

When Kyle Walker trudged down the tunnel in Reykjavik in September 2020, he thought his England career was over, stuck on 49 caps.

He held his hands up for a stupid red card, vowing to hold talks with a furious Gareth Southgate over his international future. He had Keiran Trippier, Reece James and Trent Alexander-Arnold knocking firmly on the door to start at right-back for England and he had just held it wide open for them all to run through and slam it shut behind them.

Back at Manchester City, Walker was facing competition from Joao Cancelo, who was about to reinvent the role of right-back. But then he stopped feeling sorry for himself, and the then-30-year-old made a promise to himself.

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"I'm not letting someone else retire me," Walker decided. "I'm going to let someone have a decision to make where you're going to have to pick me."

Four years on, and Walker hasn't been retired yet. He has fought off competition from the four right-backs mentioned and is still first choice for club and country. On Sunday, he will start his third European final - one previously coming in the Champions League and another at Euro 2020.

It could have been a fourth. He was benched for City's Champions League final in 2023, Manu Akanji starting out of position over Walker in Istanbul - a selection decision that hurt Walker and saw him give serious consideration to a transfer to Bayern Munich.

But once again, Walker put his head down on the training pitch. His off-field controversies have played a role behind the scenes, but