Man City clinching European crown ‘absolutely brilliant’ for England – Southgate

Southgate has included five members of Pep Guardiola’s side in his latest England squad.

Manchester City were crowned European champions on Saturday night (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)

Gareth Southgate believes England can benefit from Manchester City’s Champions League success after they beat Inter Milan in Saturday’s final.

Southgate has included five members of Pep Guardiola’s side in his squad for this month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia, with John Stones, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Kyle Walker and Kalvin Phillips all due to join up with the squad after enjoying their celebrations.

With City’s success coming after Declan Rice lifted the Europa Conference League with West Ham earlier in the week, Southgate said it can be good for the national team.

“It’s absolutely brilliant for all our guys who have been involved,” Southgate said in a video on England’s social media.

“To start with Declan, his first experience of lifting a trophy so… fabulous for him. You can see the emotion having been at the club for so long and what it meant to him.

“Then the boys at Manchester City have had a phenomenal season, an absolutely incredible season, and of course that’s been the Holy Grail for them to get this final trophy that they hadn’t won up until now.

“I’m delighted for all of them. It’s great to see them enjoying themselves and also it’s brilliant for us as a group.

“We’ve got so many experiences now of individual players winning big trophies, and that’s so important for our development as a team. It’s fantastic on all counts.”