Gareth Southgate insists he 'LOVES' his England players after dramatic shoot-out victory against Switzerland - and claims the Three Lions showed their 'streetwise nature' in Dusseldorf

Gareth Southgate confessed his love for his England heroes as he watched his players storm into the European Championship semi finals.

England celebrated jubilantly in front of their euphoric fans after winning a tense penalty shoot-out 5-3 following a 1-1 draw after extra time.

‘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. Different challenges all the way through. With England it was often, start 25 minutes really well, 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 of teams that win tournaments have had for years and years.

‘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.’

Meanwhile, Bukayo Saka said he has exorcised demons after missing a penalty in the Euro 2020 final.

Saka scored the equaliser in normal time an scored from he spot and he 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, 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.’

On his team’s performance, Southgate said: ‘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.

‘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.’