Bukayo Saka has hailed his first England goal as the biggest moment of his career so far as his effort proved the different in a 1-0 win over Austria on Wednesday night.
The 19-year-old made it into Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad on Tuesday and started in Middlesbrough on Wednesday alongside Jesse Lingard and Harry Kane in the front three.
The Arsenal man turned in an impressive display and scored the only goal of the match, finishing into an empty net after excellent build-up play from Kane, Lingard and the excellent Jack Grealish.
Saka was winning his fifth England cap and netting his first goal has become the highlight of his career so far.
‘Probably the biggest moment of my career so far, the biggest moment was getting called up for England the first time and now to score the goal it sounds nice, it’s an amazing feeling for me,’ Saka said after the match.
‘You dream of that as a kid, scoring for your country, coming through the age groups with England so to now do it here and score for the seniors, it’s an amazing feeling and I hope I can have this feeling many more times.
‘Every game is an opportunity to grow in confidence and chemistry with my team-mates, so today is another step in the right direction.
‘It’s a big honour to be named in the final squad, grateful to Gareth [Southgate], happy that I get the opportunity to represent my country in a major tournament so I’m looking forward to it a lot.’
There were no Manchester City, Manchester United or Chelsea players involved in the match on Wednesday, so Saka will face an awful lot of competition for a place in the starting XI when the likes of Marcus Rashford, Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling return to the fold.
However, the teenager has done his chances no harm and even if he hasn’t earned a starting spot at Euro 2020, which seems likely, then he has shown himself to be a very useful option as a substitute.
England are back in action on Sunday against Romania in their final pre-tournament friendly at the Riverside Stadium.
MORE : Jack Grealish plays down injury fears after impressive performance in England win over Austria
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