Euro 2020: England’s Phil Foden desperate for chance to prove himself against Germany

While the season ended in Manchester City’s disappointing Champions League final loss to Chelsea, this has been a campaign to cherish for the talented 21-year-old.

Foden added further Premier League and Carabao Cup triumphs to his already impressive medal haul, with his outstanding performances for Pep Guardiola’s side seeing him named PFA Young Player of the Year.

But the City star does not believe he has shown enough of that form for England and is determined to put that right, starting with Tuesday’s eagerly anticipated last-16 tie against Germany

“To be honest, I expect a lot more from myself but I’m not going to be too harsh,” said Foden.

“I didn’t really get involved in the games as much I would have liked. Hopefully, I can get the opportunity to play again and show what I am about. I feel like I’ve still got so much more to show this tournament.

“Like I’ve done for my club, I’ve been scoring a lot of goals and I just want to continue that form into the national team.

“And I believe that, hopefully in the next game, I can start getting involved in the goals.”

Foden hit the post early in the 1-0 win against Croatia in the Group D opener before being taken off in the second half, just as he was in the drab 0-0 draw with rivals Scotland.

The 21-year-old was left out of the 23-man squad for Tuesday’s win against the Czech Republic as he was on a yellow card, and watched a performance he felt was the Three Lions’ best to date at Euro 2020.

Asked if he was optimistic of there being more to come against Germany, Foden said: “Definitely. I’m hoping, come the Germany game, we can just express ourselves.

“With the attackers we’ve got we can really hurt them, so hopefully we turn up. We’re as good as anyone on our day.

“Obviously, I wasn’t born when all of this rivalry was going on (with Germany).

“We’re a new team now and we want to create our own history. You can’t think too much about what’s happened in the past. We’re just going to focus on the game and create our own future.”

England midfielder Declan Rice, meanwhile, says team-mate Mason Mount has tested negative in his latest coronavirus check as his self-isolation nears an end.

The Chelsea star, along with Ben Chilwell, was forced to quarantine for 10 days after coming into close contact with Scotland midfielder and club-mate Billy Gilmour, who tested positive for the virus after the 0-0 draw with the Three Lions last Friday.

Rice joked that he had missed his best friend around the camp but said that Mount was remaining positive.

He said: “I’ve been a lost soul. A few of the lads have come up to me and said I look lost and we’ve had a bit of banter.

“He’s been all right, hopefully he is out in the next couple of days. I spoke to him yesterday and he tested negative again, so I am hoping he can be back with the group soon.

“He has just been on Netflix watching things. We have had little chats on FaceTime and things, he has been positive and been keeping himself fit in the room.

“Hopefully we can have him out soon with a negative test and that will be a massive boost.”

Mount and Chilwell, who has yet to feature in the tournament, were the only players who missed training on Friday, but the former can come out of isolation in time to be involved on Tuesday.

Rice, whose only memory of England-Germany encounters at tournaments is the 2010 World Cup defeat famous for Frank Lampard’s ghost goal, would prefer to face the tougher teams earlier on in order to knock them out.

“The draw could have gone either way, we would have taken anyone because in this tournament you have to beat the best if you want to win it,” he said.

“Whether we come up against them in the round of 16 or the quarters it doesn’t matter because no game is easy in this tournament. In the end you are going to face one of them.

“I would rather play one of them earlier and knock them out early. We know Germany is going to be such a tough game.”

Euro analysis: Pages 2 and 3