England squad will make sure Saka keeps his head up - Shaw

Luke Shaw insists England lost the Euro 2020 final as a team and said he would give Bukayo Saka “a big hug” of support following his miss in the penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy.

Saka saw his spot-kick saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma as Italy won the shoot-out 3-2 to deny England a first major trophy in 55 years. The 19-year-old had come off the bench having started the semi-final win over Denmark but was left in tears following his miss, with manager Gareth Southgate taking the blame for deciding who took penalties.

Saka was then targeted with online racist abuse but – before those issues came to light for his team-mates –

Shaw said the squad would be there for the Arsenal forward,aswellasMarcusRashford and Jadon Sancho, who also missed.

“He’s devastated,” Shaw said of Saka, who he had labelled a “little brother” earlier in the tournament.

“But I think the most important thing is for us now as a team to be there for him and give him a big hug and tell him to keep his head up.

“It happens. It is a penalty shoot-out – anything can happen, as a lot of people know. It is an experience he will learn from but we will all be behind him, he knows that.

“It is not just him, though. There’s Rashy and Sanch also. We’re with them all. With this team there are no individuals who cost us.

“The squad in general, the togetherness, is definitely there. You could see that even after the game and that huddle and the way we were with the lads who missed.

“We are all together in this. Like I said, we win as a team, we lose as a team. We all lost tonight.”