On the eve of the EURO2024 final, Gareth Southgate was accompanied by Harry Kane as he took to the press conference room at the Olympiastadion for the first time this summer.

When the England boss next steps foot in that room, he will hope to do it as a European Champion, and he told reporters on Saturday that he “heads into tomorrow with no fear,” having seen it all before.

Here’s the key takeaways from the press conference ahead of Sunday’s 20:00 BST kickoff, which will see England go head-to-head with high-flying Spain for the Henri Delauney Cup.

What did Gareth Southgate say?

When England take to the Olympiastadion on Sunday, they do so as underdogs. Despite being billed as the pre-tournament favourites, the Three Lions haven’t come close to looking as threatening as Luis de la Fuente’s Spain – but they are there nonetheless, and Southgate insists that England “are excited for the challenge.”

“Clearly the team have improved over the last few weeks, shown tremendous character and resilience,” he added, expressing that “now we have a fabulous opportunity to achieve what we set out the moment we left Qatar [following the 2022 FIFA World Cup] earlier than we had hoped.”

Defeat to Iceland at EURO2016 was a wakeup call, and under Southgate, England have come so close on so many occasions in the years that have followed. 2018’s trip to Russia ended in heartbreak, as did 2022 in Qatar – but it’s that EURO2020 penalty defeat to Italy at Wembley that hurts the most.

The England boss hopes to turn that pain into momentum, and spoke with a remarkable calmness in Berlin on Saturday as he pointed out that “we’ve got good experiences in big matches now. You don’t need to say too much to these players.”

“You have to be always in the latter stages of the tournaments to learn how to win those games. We know we have to win this one and win this trophy to feel the respect from the rest of the football world.”

“Fine margins decide these games, and we need to make sure we’re on the right side of them… we look dangerous and look like we can score goals again.”

Southgate, who previously hinted at stepping down as England boss if football doesn’t come home this summer, admitted that he will “head into tomorrow with no fear,” and told reporters that he has “seen it all before.”

“Look, I’m not a believer in fairytales but I am a believer in dreams. We’ve had big dreams, we felt the need and importance of that. But then you have to make those things happen.”

“Fate, the run we’ve had, the late goals and the penalties, that doesn’t equate to it being our moment. We have to make it happen tomorrow. Of course it would be a lovely story, but it’s in our hands and our performance is the most important thing.”

What did Harry Kane say?

Much like Southgate, Harry Kane expressed a desire to improve on that agonising night at Wembley three years ago – but the Bayern Munich forward knows that “tomorrow will be an extremely tough night.”

“I’m always someone who tries to learn from disappointment and tough times, it helps me improve,” he explained, but the former Spurs man added: “I’m excited to be back in another EUROs final, and now it’s all about executing the game plan we want and getting over the line.”

Kane has notably experienced a trophy drought throughout his career, failing to convert individual accolades into major trophies. Asked by a reporter on Saturday if he’d hypothetically swap those awards for the Henri Delauney Cup, the forward instantly quipped “yeah, for sure.”

“It’s no secret that I haven’t won a team trophy and every year that goes by you feel more motivated. No question, I’d swap everything to have a special night and win tomorrow.”