From renegade to hero! At the last Euro Saka buried England’s hopes of gold and was punished by the fans, now he has steered the side through to the semi-finals: I’m proud of myself

A beautiful story written by Bukayo Saka. Still only 22 years old, the Arsenal gem was the hero for England in the quarter-final of this year’s European Championship against Switzerland. He also showed tremendous courage. Especially after what happened to him in 2021.

• Three years ago, Saka buried England’s hopes of gold
• Extreme and disgusting criticism was heaped on him for a missed penalty
• He redeemed himself against Switzerland, at least for now

Although England are not enjoying their football, along with France they are one of the most boring teams of the whole championship with their performances, but nevertheless both teams will not be missing in the semi-finals of the European Championship. Whether they deservedly so, everyone has to judge for themselves.

But the big story should be the one that Bukayo Saka boasts. Still only 22 years old, the Arsenal London international is now in his second Euro, the first one three years ago not going well at all for him.

In 2021, the promising teenager was not one of the main figures of the English selection, yet he jumped into four games, hitting the final against Italy. He was even given a huge responsibility.

England, who seem to be cursed in penalty shootouts, relied on him when they had to convert. It was clear that if Saka did not score, Italy would rejoice in gold. Before him, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho missed their attempts.

Bukayo didn’t take the responsibility then, failed to take the penalty and started crying immediately afterwards. Even though he was just a teenager, the English fans did not spare him. They showered him with racist insults, huge criticism. Absolutely disgusting. So did Rashford and Sancho, but Saka was the main target.

If the Arsenal star then decided he didn’t want to represent such a country, no one could be surprised. But it didn’t. Saka has learned his lesson, has come a huge way since then as a player and as a person, is one of the main stars of the national team and the Gunners and has now redeemed himself, at least for now.

Bukayo Saka has become an England hero

England have been struggling at the Euros. Fortunately, though, he can turn away even the unfavourable developments of a match. It did it in the quarter-final against Switzerland. Breel Embolo put them ahead. Shortly afterwards, Bukayo Saka equalised at 1-1 and scored his first goal of the tournament.

There was no goal in extra time. Then it came to penalties and the 22-year-old found the courage to take the third English kick. Cole Palmer and Jude Bellingham got through before him, with Manuel Akanji making a mistake for the Swiss.

Saka converted his try and contributed to the win and progression to the semi-finals. In addition, he won the award for the best player of the match. He showed great character and how much he has moved on.

“It was special the way we were able to stave off defeat and go to penalties. The last time we went to penalties was in 2021 in the Euro final against Italy and we all know how that turned out,” the Englishman returned to that failure in a post-match interview.

“I believe in God. To come back from something like that was really hard. It made me stronger. Today I just took my chance. I’m happy. I’m just as proud of each of us for making it. I believed in us. I felt like we dominated the game. The chance had to come and it did. I’m proud of myself for today,” he added.

Source: Football England, UEFA