England manager Gareth Southgate has confirmed that Bukayo Saka will be fit for Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark.
Saka was forced to miss Saturday’s 4-0 win over Ukraine in the quarter-final with a slight knock he picked up in training.
But the England boss has said the 19-year-old will be ready to go as England look to book a place in the European Championship final for the first time.
What was said?
“He should be fine,” Southgate said of Saka.
“He did declare himself available for the [Ukraine] game but we had not really had the chance to see him on the pitch and working at the level we felt would vindicate that decision.
“He will go back into full training with the group on Monday and he should be fine.”
How has Saka performed at Euro 2020?
The Arsenal man did not make an appearance in either of England’s first two games, but he started their third game against the Czech Republic and was hugely impressive.
Saka was named UEFA’s Star of the Match against the Czechs, which earned him a start in England’s last-16 match against Germany.
England won’t be satisfied with semi-finals
Southgate led England to the semi-final at World Cup 2018, where the Three Lions were eliminated by Croatia.
Whereas Southgate said England could have been satisfied with reaching the last four three years ago, they have a different outlook this time around.
“We’ve knocked off so many hoodoos or perceived barriers already and I feel like this group of players will feel this is just the next challenge,” he said.
“I guess the interesting part for us is we won’t feel totally satisfied if it’s just a semi-final, whereas maybe three years ago although there was massive disappointment after the semi-final there was a feeling we’d come a long way.
“Now we’ve replicated what we did there, but that won’t be enough to fulfil the group.”
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