Bukayo Saka insists he 'embraces' the pressure after exorcising the demons of the Euro 2020 final by scoring in England's penalty shoot-out win over Switzerland

Bukayo Saka delivered a night of redemption as he exorcised the demons of Euro 2020.

The England winger missed a penalty in the heartbreaking shoot-out loss to Italy in the previous European Championship final and was targeted by sickening racial abuse in the aftermath of the defat.

But here in Dusseldorf winger Saka scored England’s equaliser in normal time before converting from the spot and said: ‘I think for me it’s something I embrace.

‘You can fail once but you have a choice whether you put yourself in that position again or not. I’m a guy who is going to put myself in that position. I believed in myself.

‘When I saw the ball hit the net I was a very happy man. I’m not going to be focusing on the past. That’s done. I can only focus on now and taking a penalty.

‘Of course I know there’s a lot of nervous people watching, my family included and in the crowd. But I kept my cool and I scored.’

On Saka, head coach Gareth Southgate added: ‘I gave him a massive cuddle on the pitch. He’s a special boy, wonderful to work with.

‘You’re pleased for everybody but especially for him. It takes courage but we had belief in him.

‘We had belief in him previously. His all round performance was exceptional.

‘To give us the outlet in the one versus one situations which we felt could be an advantage for us. His performance was immense.’

Meanwhile, Southgate confessed his love for his heroes following an epic night.

‘They’re such a close group and they’re all delivering, they are all fighting for each other,’ said Southgate.

‘I love the players, I loved being in that moment with them. We have had different challenges all the way through.

‘With England it was often start 25 minutes really well, go ahead in games and then out in the early knockout rounds.

‘We weren’t savvy, or tournament-wise. This group is different. In general we’ve shown the resilience that teams that win tournaments have had for years and years.

‘Look at Italy and Spain, it’s not all pure football. We’re showing a little bit more of that streetwise nature.

‘This is a young team where a lot of them are going to be around for a long time. Now we want to be able to deliver one more thing.

‘We’ve never been to a final outside England, we’ve never won a Euros, those are two bits of history we’d love to create.’

On his team’s performance, Southgate added: ‘I thought we played well all night. We had to be so good without the ball. They are a good team where their shape causes a problem.

‘We had to defend with real discipline. There are times when you can’t go because the goalkeeper players

‘We showed the patience to keep probing. Then you need to show other qualities. These players are showing unbelievable resilience and character.

‘It’s not just about playing well. Dealing with everything around us, twice coming back.

‘It’s the best we’ve used the ball. We didn’t quite get enough players in the box at times because we were managing their load.

‘You run the risk of losing some shape. We wanted to stick with that bolder approach, once we got the equaliser, we knew it was more open but we wanted to win the game.

‘Both teams ran out of energy, both had chances. The players have shown amazing character and resilience.’