Manchester City captain Kyle Walker has shared one big regret he has in regards to his England career.
After leading the Manchester club to their sixth Premier League title in seven years, the 34-year-old is now set to represent England in the European Championship.
Having already racked up 83 caps for the England national side, the full-back has featured in numerous international tournaments since making his senior debut for the Three Lions back in November 2011.
Ahead of this upcoming tournament in Germany, Walker has opened up about one particular situation he’s been through in his England career that he now admits should have been different.
Kyle Walker reflects on big England regret
The veteran defender was not shy in sharing his one big regret regarding his previous efforts for England in a recent edition of You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker, where he said this about the penalty shoot-out defeat the Three Lions suffered against Italy in the final of Euro 2020.
He said: “I was more consoling the lads who had missed rather than reflecting on what had been a great tournament.
“I think that is just me as a person, as much as I didn’t want to be in the firing line and miss a penalty, I look back on it now and think they were young and maybe I should have taken some heat off of them and taken the penalty myself because of the media attention they got after it, but fair play to them and hopefully that shaped them into great footballers they are now.”
Walker has shown his class
Looking back over the final against Italy, the game at Wembley Stadium finished with a 1-1 scoreline after extra time.
In the following penalty shoot-out, the home side lost 3-2 after Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho, neither of whom started the match, missed their individual penalties.
Now that Walker has admitted that he should have put his name forward to take a penalty so he’d be the one to take the heat if he missed rather than the young trio that did, this showcases the professionalism he has and how much he cares about the well-being of his teammates.
Looking ahead to this tournament, it’ll be interesting to see if the City captain, who Ivan Toney recently named as having what it takes to become a top manager in the future, finds himself taking a penalty if England find themselves in another shoot-out at any stage of the competition.