Gary Neville took a subtle dig at Borish Johnson after England reached the final of Euro 2020, before lavishing Gareth Southgate with praise for masterminding the Three Lions’ run to Sunday’s showpiece occasion.
It was a nerve-shredding evening at Wembley and England had to summon all of their resilience to finally find a way past an obdurate Denmark side who had threatened to spoil the party from the moment Mikkel Damsgaard blasted the underdogs ahead with a stunning free-kick.
An own goal from Simon Kjaer saw England drew level shortly afterwards, but they had to wait until the 104th minute to land the decisive blow when Harry Kane, at the second attempt following a missed penatly, sent the home fans into ecstacy.
Neville, working as a pundit for ITV, has been a regular critic of Johnson’s over the course of the coronavirus pandemic and aimed a subtle dig at the Prime Minister, citing Southgate as the perfect example of what a leader should be.
He said: ‘I have to say Gareth Southgate his team, the staff the players everyone have been absolutely unbelievable and this crowd is mesmerised being in this stadium right now.
‘The standard of leaders in this country over the last couple of years has been poor but looking at that man there that’s everything a leader should be.
‘Respectful, humble, tells the truth, genuine, He’s fantastic Gareth Southgate. He really is unbelievable and has done a great job.’
Those sentiments were largely echoed by Neville’s former Manchester United teammate, Roy Keane, who added: ‘Gareth really deserves all the credit in the world.
‘He’s done a brilliant job, absolutely brilliant job, I’m delighted for Gareth and England deserved it.
‘Man of the match was probably Kasper Schmeichel and that says a lot. Lucky with the penalty, but England deserved it.’
MORE : Why VAR didn’t overturn England’s controversial penalty against Denmark
MORE : England beat Denmark in extra time to book Euro 2020 final against Italy
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