For someone who is just 22 years old, Bukayo Saka has already experienced an entire career’s worth of heartbreak.
There’s no doubt that the most painful of these disappointments came at the Euro 2020 final on home soil when he missed a decisive penalty in the shootout against Italy.
The tournament had started so well for him. Still a teenager at the time, he won the player of the match award in his tournament debut against Czech Republic and was instrumental in the knockouts with England beating Germany, Ukraine and Denmark.
Unfortunately, the painful miss in the final is what he will be remembered for. He wasn’t the only England player that failed to score from the spot that night, but he was the one that took the make-or-break fifth penalty that sealed their fate.
English fans have had to endure many years of penalty shootout pain going all the way back to the 1990 Fifa World Cup. Of all the players that have missed a penalty in a major tournament for the Three Lions, Saka is arguably the one that missed the most important one as it would have kept the team’s hopes alive in a final.
The sight of him being consoled by manager Gareth Southgate had so much English Euro history in one image. Southgate himself missed in a shootout at Wembley in Euro 1996. It provided two generations of heartbreak in one post-match hug.
Saka may have missed on the night, but it says a lot about his character that he volunteered himself to take such a pressure penalty as a 19-year-old in the first place.
What he had to endure in the aftermath would’ve tested anyone’s resolve. A torrent of racial abuse was directed by fans towards him on social media and the fact that he’s continually improved as a player since then is proof that his mental strength can never be questioned.
For each of the two following seasons, Saka was voted Senior Men’s Player of the Year for his performances for the national team. This in an award that’s decided by on online poll for England fans, so it just goes to show how the public have put that infamous penalty miss behind them.
His development as a player at Arsenal has gone hand in hand with a resurgence of fortunes at the club under Mikel Arteta. Saka has become a talismanic figure in a squad with plenty of competition in attacking positions. He was their leading scorer in the season just past with 20 goals over all tournaments (six of them coming from penalties).
While he’s shone at club level, he’s also been a part of two tantalising runner-up finishes for the Gunners where they just came up short against a Manchester City team who have lifted the Premier League standards to a whole new level.
As a player that was identified as a world class prospect from an early age, Saka will be desperate to end this trend of continually finishing second best.
Going into Euro 2024, Saka is part of an England squad that many have tipped to be favourites to win the tournament in Germany. With an array of attacking talent including Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and many others, Saka certainly shouldn’t be shouldering all the burden if they are to go on and lift the trophy.
It shouldn’t be too much trouble for England to navigate themselves through a group containing Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia. Then the inevitable knockout drama awaits that can often be won by, as the cliché says, “whoever wants it the most”.
With the chance to redeem himself from being the scapegoat at the last Euro tournament, no-one will want it more than Saka.