Gerard Pique has given his prediction as to how Gareth Southgate’s England will get on in this summer’s European Championship.
Gareth Southgate heads into his fourth tournament as England manager with his side certainly one of the favourites for the competition, alongside Portugal and France.
With Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane amongst some of the key starters for the national team, it would certainly be a surprise if Southgate’s side didn’t get to the latter stages of the tournament.
Former Barcelona and Manchester United defender Gerard Pique, who won the European Championships for Spain in 2008 and 2012, has spoken to talkSPORT about who he believes to be favourites.
Pique names favourite
Well, Pique has indeed named Southgate’s England as one of the favourites for the competition and has also singled out one player who will be key for the national team.
When asked if England have what it takes to win the competition, Pique replied: “Why not! I think that France are maybe the favourites this year. “But England are [up] there!”
As well as this, Pique believes Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham would be key, he said: “I would say so, yeah, He’s a great player.
“I think that he had a great season at Real Madrid and his potential is incredible. He’s very, very young and already [has] a lot of experience so he can do very, very well.”
England’s time to perform
With the quality, and indeed the strength in depth on offer for the England national team, Southgate’s side almost have to win the competition, particularly after they came so close in 2021.
On that occasion, it was a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat to Roberto Mancini’s Italy that denied Southgate’s side a memorable trophy at the home of English football.
This time, however, Southgate will be able to call upon Bellingham, who has had an outstanding season for Madrid and could yet add a Champions League victory to the La Liga that he has already won at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Since the World Cup in 2022, Bellingham has developed a knack of scoring crucial goals and Southgate will have to do his best to get the Englishman into goalscoring positions.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
