Southgate reveals why Rashford missed Euro 2020 final penalty and new rule England introduced afterwards

GARETH SOUTHGATE says Marcus Rashford missed his Euro 2020 penalty after practising TOO MUCH. 

It led to ex-England boss Southgate only letting his stars take three spot-kicks in training sessions. 

He controversially subbed on Rashford near the end of extra-time against Italy just to take a penalty in the Wembley shootout. 

Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were subjected to racist abuse after missing spot-kicks. 

Southgate said: “I didn’t put Raheem Sterling in that position on that night. 

“He had more experience, but his penalty record was 33 per cent. Marcus’ was 87 per cent. 

“Only being on the pitch for a very short period isn’t helpful — but that’s a big percentage shift. 

“Marcus had practised almost too many times. I said to him months later, as he’d been practising against keepers in training too often, he was trying to be too perfect. 

“So, he’s looking for right in that stanchion area and hits the post.” 

It was Southgate’s only shootout loss as boss — winning the other three. 

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Southgate told The High Performance Podcast: “After that, we actually practised a bit less. 

“There’s more pressure, ‘You can only have three, not eight’, because actually they lose focus. 

“And we took an extra keeper, so they didn’t face the same one each time.”