The biggest statement Declan Rice made as England qualified for Euro 2024 was on the pitch, not off it. Yet, from the moment he gave them the lead in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, securing the pivotal result in the opening game, it could scarcely be any other way. And if England fans of a certain generation – Gareth Southgate perhaps quietly among them – could be forgiven for savouring the sense that the path to a European Championship began at a ground named after a man who knocked them out of a World Cup in inimitable, immortal fashion, a second victory over Italy sealed their passage to Germany.
And then Rice made a different kind of statement. “We have to be level-headed about it but there is one objective and that is to win on foreign soil,” the £105m midfielder said. “We have enough winners in the group and the mentality is amazing but it is down to us. We can talk about it as much as we can but we know as players it is now time to step up.”
