Watkins: That's what I told Palmer, and the most important match of our lives awaits us

Thursday 11-07-2024

England national team striker Ollie Watkins appeared in press statements after qualifying for the Euro 2024 final by defeating his Dutch counterpart by two goals to one.

The player who scored the winning goal said: “I have been waiting for this moment for weeks. It has taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am today. I am happy. I swear on my life I told Cole Palmer said he will set the ball up for me today and I will score, it is the best feeling ever.”

He added: “There was a lot of criticism, but we are in the final and that is all that matters. Being late seems to motivate us. We won on penalties and came back from falling behind.”

He stressed: “I never thought I would play in the European Championship with the England national team. You can dream, but I am realistic. I walk every day, one step at a time. I have put in a lot of work to reach this point.” Not only this season, I will enjoy every moment.”

And he noted: “ Lately, I've obviously been feeling a bit down. I don't like being on the bench, I had the best season of my career. Some friends have messaged me and asked me to be patient and the number of people who messaged me tonight saying you will score when I play, that was ridiculous and I hope they do the same in the final or give me luck.”

He continued: “I did not want to leave the field at the end. I wanted to absorb everything because it does not happen very often, in the goal shot.” The ball came to me. Standing on the ball is not the strongest aspect of my game but the goal was my bread and butter. I told Cole Palmer we would go on the field and he would pass the ball to me and it happened."

And he continued: “You don't get this opportunity very often and I had to be selfish and shoot the ball. I don't think I've ever hit the ball that well before, I wouldn't have dreamed of it to be honest. "I can't lie and say I did it. Scoring for England is great but I didn't think I would do it in a tournament like this."

Wazid: “When I was on the bench, I told Dean Henderson that I could make a difference today and I needed to move forward. I took my chance and scored and now we are in the final. One last match,

He concluded: “The Spain national team is a great football team. There are a lot of good players, a lot of depth in the team like us, and they have experience. It is the most important match in our lives. We will try to enjoy tonight and then focus on Spain.”