Euro 2020: I can see England make it to the final, says Ukraine manager Andriy Shevchenko

Ukraine manager Andriy Shevchenko has backed England to reach the Euro 2020 final after suffering a crushing 4-0 defeat against Gareth Southgate’s team in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

A record-breaking brace from Harry Kane and goals from Harry Maguire and substitute Jordan Henderson helped the Three Lions hammer Ukraine and enter the Euro semifinals for the first time in 25 years.

It was a dominant performance in the second-half as Shevchenko’s men head home after a disappointing quarter-final performance.

“The English team is really strong, individually and as a team as well, they have a great coach (Gareth Southgate) and they reached the semi-finals, and I can see that this team can make it to the final,” he told reporters.

“We did not deny our principles, we had good parts of the game, but there are sometimes – set pieces, for example – today we didn’t work very well at them.”

Shevchenko added that England pounced on the mistakes made by Ukraine during the match.

“England played very pragmatically today, they used their strong sides, they exploited our mistakes they played very well, at a top level. They controlled the game,” Shevchenko said.

The England team boast a host of household names, while Shevchenko’s squad was mostly drawn from the Ukrainian top flight, rather than the leading five leagues in England, Spain, France, Germany and Italy.

“Until we have a domestic championship at a good level, we will get to this level less often,” the 44-year-old added.

“In order to be able to compete with such players, you need to have players who play in the top five leagues.”