“It’s deep, it’s hard to witness” – John Stones offers emotional review of England’s Euro 2024 final defeat | OneFootball

Manchester City’s John Stones has reflected on the heartache of another European Championship final defeat in the summer, admitting the deep pain it caused him.

The England defender was one of a number of Manchester City stars to embark on the adventure with Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions squad that would take them all the way to the showpiece final in Berlin in the summer.

Working alongside Kyle Walker and Phil Foden, England took on teammate Rodri and his Spanish teammates at Olympiastadion for the European crown, but fell to a late Mikel Oyarzabal winner to deny them the chance of silverware once again.

It is the second successive European Championship final that England have lost, following on from their penalty shoot-out heartache against Italy at Wembley Stadium back in 2020, meaning they remain without a major trophy since 1966.

Speaking after his return to international duties with England following the first bulk of club level matches in the new season, Manchester City’s John Stones took time to reflect on the heartbreak of yet another European Championship final defeat in the summer.

“It takes a while (to come to terms with),” the Manchester City centre-back said. “To get to another final is incredible and I really believed we could do it. Emotionally, I was upset straight away, and then angry. I had anger at myself, the outcome of it.”

The versatile defender continued, “You always feel you can do more. ‘What if this happened? What if I did that?’ That is just the pure emotion of being self-critical. Not getting there again, having that hurt again.

“It was hard for me. I kind of box it away and try not to think about the pain. It’s deep. It’s hard to witness and be a part of.”

John Stones is yet to return to consistent match action for Manchester City so far this season, but with the fixture schedule intensifying from this weekend, Pep Guardiola will no doubt have plenty of opportunities to rotate his squad.

Manchester City face Brentford in the first of four consecutive home matches, with a meeting against Inter marking the return of the UEFA Champions League, before Arsenal travel to the Etihad Stadium a week on Sunday.

The Carabao Cup is then separated by just one day’s rest following the meeting with Mikel Arteta’s side, as Championship club Watford make the journey north for the third round of the competition in a controversial scheduling move from various authorities.