Gareth Southgate has sympathised with Jordan Pickford, admitting the Everton goalkeeper could do little more to help England as they lost on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
The shot-stopper has been one of the Three Lions’ stars of the tournament, conceding just two goals with his five clean sheets earning him the Golden Glove award.
He was at his best again on Sunday night but his efforts were ultimately in vain as Leonardo Bonucci scored the rebound following a brilliant fingertip save onto the post from a Marco Veratti header to force extra-time, before he denied Andrea Belotti and Jorginho in the penalty shootout only to see Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka all fail to convert their own spot-kicks.
And having seen his starting place for club and country often questioned following a number of high-profile mistakes last season, Southgate wasted no time in praising Pickford’s performance in his post-tournament press conference on Monday morning.
“Jordan had a brilliant tournament,” the England boss told reporters. “There are a lot of players who come into that category and you don’t get into a final without so many players playing well and that’s what happened for us.
“The number of times I’ve been sat here and Jordan has had his place in the team questioned. He’s constantly delivered for us and this tournament, I think, was his best run of performances for England.
“He should be hugely proud of that. To concede two goals in seven matches is our whole defence and whole team but, of course our goalkeeper was a huge part of that.
“Two saves in the shootout. He could do little more in terms of keeping the ball out of our net and that is always the starting point for any goalkeeper.
“He had a really outstanding tournament.”
