Celebrities from across England have shown their support for the Three Lions ahead of the highly anticipated European Championship final in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday night.
Well-known faces including Maureen Lipman, Patrick Stewart and John Cleese expressed their support for Gareth Southgate’s England team this weekend.
Sir Patrick Stewart, 84, who lives in Los Angeles, admitted he is devastated to be so far from Europe and unable to attend the match in person.
He told the Ny Breaking: ‘I wish I wasn’t nine thousand miles away. I feel like this could be the game of the competition.’
Meanwhile, Dame Maureen Lipman, 78, shared her theory that Southgate had a trump card up his sleeve ahead of the grand final.
Celebrities across England have shown their support for the Three Lions ahead of their highly anticipated European Championship final in Berlin, Germany, on Sunday night
Famous faces including Maureen Lipman, Patrick Stewart and John Cleese expressed their support for Gareth Southgate’s England team this weekend (pictured Harry Kane)
The Coronation Street actress said: ‘I’ve watched almost every game, wherever I am, I go absolutely mad and pull my hair out or just go absolutely mad.’
‘I have now convinced myself that England’s relentless defensive play right up to the semi-finals was part of Southgate’s master plan to deceive the European continent by saying we had no punching power and then saying ‘bam bam, thanks’.
‘Gareth, bring them in, take them out, replace them and ram them in… I’ll be glued, accusatory and hysterical.’
Fellow actor John Cleese said: ‘All these games are decided by random moments of luck. I hope we get really lucky today. These lads deserve it.’
While the nation hopes the English boys will finally pull off the win, Jeremy Irons nevertheless wished them a ‘great game’.
He said: ‘Gareth, you do what you do very well. You lead from the front. You are a great example to all of us, and that is why we are all behind you. Win or lose, have a great game.’
Meanwhile, Dame Maureen Lipman (pictured), 78, shared her theory that Southgate had a trump card up his sleeve ahead of the grand final.
Fellow actor John Cleese (pictured) said: ‘All these games are decided by random moments of luck. I hope we get really lucky today. These lads deserve it’
Call the Midwife star Jenny Agutter added: ‘I hope you enjoy the game, if you do, we will. I’ll be cheering you on. I just want them to feel free to take risks and play well together.’
The messages of support come after Gareth delivered an emotional message to his England heroes ahead of their meeting with destiny: ‘Go and fulfil your dreams.’
The national team will face Spain in the final of Euro 2024 on Sunday night, after a tumultuous tournament. Southgate said: ‘I don’t believe in fairytales, but I do believe in dreams. We have big dreams, but you have to make those things come true.’
‘The run we’ve had, late goals, penalties, but that doesn’t mean we’re actually doing it. We have to perform.
“When you’re trying to create dreams, you need a vision to go with it. That lights a little fire. We know what it would mean (to win).”
The England men’s team have not won a major trophy since the 1966 World Cup, with Southgate adding: ‘We need to win this trophy to gain the respect of the rest of the football world.
The messages of support come after Gareth delivered an emotional message to his England heroes ahead of their meeting with destiny: ‘Go and fulfil your dreams.’
The Three Lions boss told his players to make their dreams come true by winning the team’s first major trophy since 1966
‘I used to travel to World Cups and European Championships to watch as a spectator (before I became England manager) and watch the highlights on the big screens for games we weren’t at. They only showed the finals and the big games.
“We had high expectations, but they didn’t match where we were in terms of performance. We do now.
‘Tomorrow I have no fear of what can happen, because I have already experienced everything. I want my players to feel that fearlessness… If we are not afraid of losing, we have a greater chance of winning.’
The three are competing for the second consecutive European Championship final, after a dismal match against Italy at Wembley in 2021.
The team lost on home turf on penalties and that evening will live long in the memories of those involved.
“I think it shows incredible consistency first of all,” captain Harry Kane said on Saturday night. “A lot of us were obviously devastated after that final, as always a long road back to get where we are now.
“All praise for the resilience we showed the boys. It says a lot about the mentality of the selection, we are incredibly happy to be in this situation and to be in a European final again. Of course we would love to go a step further than last time.”
Kane said many of the England players were left ‘heartbroken’ after losing on penalties in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley
England go into the match as underdogs, with Spain having won all six of their matches so far and the Three Lions having drawn four times in 90 minutes.
Southgate, however, has no problem with that. He is pleased that his plans have paid off so far.
He added: ‘We haven’t spent much time on the training ground but we have had several meetings to assess the opposition and work out how best to play against them.
“But our messages haven’t really changed in the six or seven weeks we’ve been together. We have a long-term vision and we’ve always broken it down into smaller pieces.”
