Jose Mourinho has insisted that he would be “really disappointed” if England failed to reach the Euro 2020 final after their stunning win over Germany.
Gareth Southgate’s men punched their ticket to the quarter-finals with a memorable 2-0 win at Wembley on Tuesday.
Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling broke the deadlock in the 75th minute in a nail-biting encounter for England.
Bayern Munich star Thomas Muller missed a sensational chance to pull Germany level after firing wide during a one-on-one battle with Jordan Pickford.
England captain Harry Kane, whose form has been widely criticised, broke his goalscoring drought and opened his account at the Euros.
The 27-year-old Tottenham striker connected with a Jack Grealish cross and nodded a diving header past Manuel Neuer.
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The Three Lions will now face Ukraine in the quarter-finals on 3rd July at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
Should Southgate’s men defeat Ukraine, England would face either the Czech Republic or Denmark in the semi-finals at Euro 2020.
And England could clash with either Belgium, Italy, Switzerland or Spain in the final at Wembley.
Speaking after the Germany match, Mourinho claimed England were “very solid, very solid” and he was “really happy for Southgate.”
The 58-year-old Portuguese manager told talkSPORT: “I watched the game I expected to watch, a big game.
“Going into the next round, the back three doesn’t make any sense to me now.”
“They can go back to a back four and add in one more creative player to the team.”
José Mourinho says England should be much bolder in attack in the next round. pic.twitter.com/250NwHQ025
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) June 29, 2021
“Honestly, the geometry was there, the duels were there, both teams respecting each other a lot, but England in my opinion are very, very solid, very compact.
“And then in the right moment, it couldn’t be a better moment to do it [score] with 10 minutes to go, and then the little bit of luck in that one-on-one with Muller.
“I’m really happy for Southgate, the players and the fans.
“I’m singing ‘it’s coming home’ to show my happiness. […] [But] it’s not yet coming home.
“England need balance in the bad moments and in the good moments. The same way media is critical in the bad moments, we have to be balanced now, there’s still a long way to go.
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“In the normal conditions, England are going to be in the final, because I don’t see them losing against the teams they could face in the next rounds.
“But we must respect football and the unpredictability. France are not in the quarter-finals because they didn’t respect the game in the final 10 minutes.
“I’m very, very pleased. I just hope it ends well, I hope it comes home. But football is football.
“I always say, in the bad moments I don’t want me and my team to be in hell, but in the good moments I don’t want to be in heaven.
“So, I would say to them calm down and just focus on the next game.
“But, in my opinion, England are ready for anything and I will be very disappointed if we don’t make the final, because we should, we should, we definitely should.”
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