Euro 2020: A look inside England's dressing room ahead of first game against Croatia

Video report by ITV News Sports Editor Steve Scott


This is the dressing room where manager Gareth Southgate will rally the England team ahead of their Euro 2020 opener with Croatia on Sunday.

It is where the England boss will give his team their final talk before the game. Five minutes before kick-off, they will get up from their seats and head for the tunnel.

The team will be held in the tunnel for a couple of minutes, a nervous couple of minutes, perhaps to collect their final thoughts ahead of the first game.

The referee will then lead them out into Wembley Stadium, where they will be greeted by more than 20,000 fans - most of them England supporters.



England players will then be taking the knee before the game, as a show of support for the anti-racism Black Lives Matter movement.

Euro 2020 begins on Friday with the tournament taking place across the continent for the first time.

England, Wales and Scotland have all qualified for Euro 2020, which concludes with the final at Wembley on Sunday, July 11.

There are 11 host cities in as many countries, spanning from Seville to Baku, something that has never happened before in the history of the competition.

Harry Kane celebrates a goal during the UEFA Euro 2020 Qualifying match at Wembley, London in November 2019 Credit: Mike Egerton/PA

To ensure the tournament is Covid-safe, players have been asked to live in a bubble, away from their families in the run-up to the games.

Southgate has suggested that anything less than reaching the semi-finals would be a disappointment.

Speaking at the end of last month, he stressed that the key to England's success was consistency: "We've had a consistent level of performance. What we need to do is back up the big wins we've had against the likes of Spain and Belgium and to win a tournament, we're going to have to do that consistently to win those big matches, and that's the next challenge for us."