Mesut Ozil has heaped praise on Bukayo Saka and urged him to keep his head up following England's painful exit from the World Cup.
The Three Lions crashed out of the competition with a 2-1 defeat against France at the Al Bayt Stadium, courtesy of goals from Aurelien Tchouameni and Oliver Giroud. Harry Kane scored the Three Lions' only goal of the game although he had the chance to take the game to extra-time and add his second from the penalty spot.
However, the Tottenham forward blazed his spot-kick over the bar to condemn England to a frustrating defeat against the reigning world champions. A number of Three Lions stars can take some pride from their performances in Qatar - with Bukayo Saka one of them, having chipped in with three goals and two assists at the World Cup.
Although England were on the losing side, the Arsenal forward produced a terrific performance against France and caused Theo Hernandez all kinds of problems on the right-hand side. Saka won the penalty that Kane scored, with the 21-year-old jinking inside onto his favourite left food before being brought down by Tchouameni.
After the game, Ozil revealed that England "don't need to feel ashamed" by losing to the 2018 World Cup winners. Gareth Southgate's side have now reached the quarter-finals in each of their last three major tournaments, having previously lost to Italy in the final at Euro 2020.
He wrote on Twitter : "You don’t need to feel ashamed Team England. A strong performance against the current World Champion, good defending against Mbappe & Co.
"But France very effective as always. Great game from my brother (Saka) – the future belongs to you."
Saka's performance also caught the eye of former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp and he believes that the England winger should've stayed on the pitch, instead of being taken off for Raheem Sterling. Southgate has been criticised for not making changes earlier but Redknapp has slammed him for taking off Saka.
Redknapp told Sky Sports : "They couldn't handle Bukayo Saka, he was too much for Theo Hernandez, I couldn't believe that Gareth took him off. Even if we had scored a goal and got to extra-time, he was the player I felt got me on the edge of my seat.
"I think it was a really strange decision, you've got to make substitutions if you want to try and effect the game. But I would've kept him on for every single second of that game.
"When he saw him go off, Hernandez must've got a huge sign of relief. We lost our way after that, we had a free-kick with Rashford that just sailed over the bar but I thought that was a strange substitution."
