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England boss Gareth Southgate admits he was playing Harry Kane through injury during Euro 2024 games despite having strikers like Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney on the bench.

England lost to Spain last night in the final and former Tottenham striker was subbed off after only 60 minutes after completing only one touch in opposition box.

Ollie Watkins completed only 62 minutes this Euros and scored the last-gasp goal to send England to the final against Netherlands.

“So many of our players came into the camp having missed the end of the season,” said Southgate.

“We managed to get Luke (Shaw) through 90 minutes when he hasn’t played for four months. We have had Kobbie (Mainoo) as a young player who has done incredibly well. But the amount of football he has had this year. Jude (Bellingham) you could see that we were about to take off because he was cramping as well. That physical toll is definitely an issue for us, with others in the group as well.

“Harry (Kane) has come into the tournament having had an injury at the end of the season. He has played a lot of minutes. We tried to manage those minutes as well as we could. He has led the team incredibly well. We have lost a lot of leadership from the group, with injuries to Henderson and Maguire. A lot has fallen on Harry’s shoulders. He has done that exceptionally well. We just felt that we needed to get more pressure on their centre-backs and to have the option of a runner in behind, which is why we put Ollie Watkins on when we did.” – finished Southgate.

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