Gareth Southgate is confident England can build on their “belief” at Euro 2024 and enjoy a summer to remember in a similar way to 1990 and 1996. The Euro 2020 runners-up were seconds away from exiting this edition in humiliating fashion on Sunday, only to squeak past Slovakia and into a fourth successive major quarter-final under Southgate. Jude Bellingham, who turned 21 the day before the last-16 clash, came to the rescue with a 95th-minute overhead kick against their well-drilled opponents before Harry Kane sealed a 2-1 extra-time win.

A European Championship quarter-final clash with Switzerland on Saturday is the reward for an England side looking to kick on after facing criticism and riding their luck in Germany. “The boys that came on and contributed had a big impact on what we were doing – the togetherness and the spirit that you need. “Everybody now, 30 years on, looks back at (Euro) 96, that I played in, in a different way to how it was at the time.

“We were bang average against Switzerland, we were the same against Scotland. Scotland missed a penalty at 1-0. Spain should have beaten us in a 0-0 draw.

“(The World Cup in) 1990 was similar, so you do go through these moments in tournaments. “We know we should be better than we’ve been but we’ve ended up with a lot of young players in important positions and trying to solve problems right the way through the four weeks of the camp. “You could see the boys that went on but also the boys that came off.