The Euro 2020 Finals came to an enthralling end as Italy defeated England to win their second European championship. Featuring some of the most talented players in Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka, England were seen as a slight favorite in the matchup.

The game got off to a great start as the hosts took a lead in the first two minutes courtesy of a Luke Shaw rocket. But England did not capitalize on the same and gave the chance to Italy to take control of the game.

The Azzurri eventually found their breakthrough through a Leonardo Bonucci goal. With two teams slowing down, the game was eventually decided on penalities. In some unfortunate set of circumstances, England’s young stars in Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka missed three penalties in a row which eventually led them to a 3-2 loss in the penalties.

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Jack Grealish hammers back at critiques over England’s loss in Euro 2020 Finals

After England’s crushing loss in the penalties, many pundits questioned many English stars for not stepping up as penalty-takers yesterday. One of the biggest critiques for this was Roy Keane.

In an appearance at ITV, Keane slammed the likes of Jack Grealish and Raheem Sterling for not stepping up. Keane said, “If you’re Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid go up for a penalty ahead of you”

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“You cannot let a shy 19-year-old go up in front of you. They have a lot more experience, Sterling has won trophies, they had to get in front of the young kid and stand up.”

Given the recent criticisms, Aston Villa star Jack Grealish wasn’t the biggest fan of Keane’s comments. In a recent tweet, the Villa winger clarified that he indeed wanted to take a penalty in the shootout but rather followed coach Gareth Southgate’s decision.

England certainly had some questionable decision making in the penalties. Substituting veterans like Jordan Henderson and Kyle Walker for younger players like Rashford and Sancho who hadn’t played significant minutes seemed rather puzzling.

But young talented players like Saka were at the fulcrum of their route to the Finals. This English team has an incredible core of young talented players and are just getting started. If not for a couple of penalties, this English side would have been lauded. Will Gareth Southgate lead Harry Kane and Co. to a title in the near future?