Phil Foden hits back at claims he didn't want to take a penalty for England against Switzerland at Euro 2024

The Three Lions are yet to fire on all cylinders at Euro 2024, however, they have managed to reach a third semi-final in a major tournament in the Gareth Southgate era after edging out Switzerland in the quarter-finals on penalties. While their performance throughout the match was below par, when it came to the penalty shootout, all five of the England takers found the back of the net while Jordan Pickford stopped Manuel Akanji's strike to ensure a semi-final berth for the team.

Right after the shoot-out victory, a section of the fans speculated on social media that Phil Foden did not want to take a penalty and hence was subbed off in extra time as Trent Alexander-Arnold - one of England's shootout heroes - replaced him. Alexander-Arnold was also overheard suggesting one of his team-mate had shied away from taking a kick. The Manchester City star has now addressed the issue as he claimed he would have willingly taken a spot-kick if he was asked to do so, however, he felt that there were more competent penalty-takers than him in Southgate's squad.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Foden said, "I would have taken one if I was still on the pitch but I think there are players who take them regularly for their clubs so it makes sense for them to take them. I think that’s what Gareth did, put the best penalty-takers on the pitch. I’m glad he did that now because it definitely worked in our favour.

"I feel like it’s a confidence thing, if you believe you’re going to score you can definitely be a penalty-taker. Like I said, I wouldn’t have minded taking one if I was still on the pitch but there are probably better penalty-takers than me."

Southgate's side will now hope to get the better of Ronald Koeman's Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday and make it to their second consecutive European Championship final.