England will take pressure of being favourites “on their shoulders and as a compliment”, says Kyle Walker

England are looking to win the opening two games of a European Championships for the first time in their history when they take on Denmark in the Frankfurt Arena at 17:00 BST [18:00 CEST] on June 20^th.

The two sides last met in the semi-final of Euro 2020 at Wembley Stadium which went all the way to extra time, with Harry Kane scoring late on in the second half of that period to send the host nation to the Final for the very first time.

But this is a very different England side, and manager Gareth Southgate is hopeful that they can play better than both three years ago, and in their last outing against Serbia.

What did Gareth Southgate say?

The England boss sat down to address the media ahead of their clash against Denmark in what will be a re-match of the Euro 2020 semi-final, with his side looking to be more convincing than their previous match-up three years ago.

“We have to prove that we’re better than three years ago. We know we have good players and that we can play better than in the first game.”

It has been just five days since their first clash, and the team arrived late back the following morning into camp, but Southgate isn’t using this as a preliminary excuse, dubbing his squad as ‘ready’ for the next game where a win will secure their place in the knockout rounds.

“We’re used to a quick turnaround of games. You recover as much as you can in a short period of time and get your messages across. We’re ready for the game.”

However, the manager knows that they have a tough task on their hands, with Denmark no slouches, and looking to make amends for their perhaps surprising 1-1 draw against Slovenia.

“I never think in a game of football it matters who’s the favourite and who’s the underdog. The fact is you have to play well on the day,” Southgate said. “They have a very good team and a good coach. We’ve had very tough games against them, not only in the last EURO but also in the Nations League. We know their strengths and we’ll have to play at our very best.”

The lone goalscorer of England’s first Euro 2024 clash with Serbia was Jude Bellingham, who is coming off a stellar season with Real Madrid in which he scored 23 goals and assisted 13 times in all competitions from midfield.

Now, he is making his name on the international stage, and his manager could not speak more highly of him: “Bellingham is a pleasure to work with, very coachable. But everybody has to contribute, the success of the team will not just come from him.”

One member of the Three Lions who will not be featuring tomorrow is Luke Shaw. The Manchester United left-back hasn’t played competitively since February due to injury, though Southgate believes he is nearing a return to the field.

“He’s progressing well but he’s not available tomorrow. We’re happy with his progress. Everyone else is available for the game.”

What did Kyle Walker say?

While England are favourites in this match-up, Kyle Walker, who sat alongside Gareth Southgate, was insistent that they could not underestimate any opponent in this tournament.

“We don’t underestimate any opponent, we need to give Denmark the respect they deserve. We’re fully focused and want the three points.”

One thing the right-back was forced to address was the drop off in performance from the first half to the second half in their match against Serbia, though he attributed it partly to the adrenaline and emotion associated with it being the Three Lions’ opening game of the tournament.

“I think it was always going to drop because of the emotion of wanting to do well. You’re raring to go, you’ve been preparing for this for so long, then all of a sudden you go 1-0 up and then it’s a little bit of a different game in the second half.”

Though he stands pat on his holistic view that the three points are what counts, he praised his backline for staying solid together, and ensuring that they came out of the game with a clean sheet.

“No two halves of football are ever the same, but I felt we dealt with the pressure and defended well as a block. We got the three points that we wanted.”

Lastly, when asked about how the group felt about being tournament favourites, the Manchester City skipper said that they’re ‘comfortable’ in that situation and spun a positive spin on the pressure behind them.  

“I think as a group of players we have to be very comfortable in the situation that we’re in,” Walker said. “We’ve got a good team, with good players in there. If they want to put us as favourites, fine, we’ll take that. We take the pressure on our shoulders and we take that as a compliment.”

FromTheSpot will continue to comprehensively cover Denmark v England, alongside the rest of EURO2024. Follow our X account to stay in the loop.