Manchester City had a large number of players from their squad take part in the 2024 European Championship over the summer.
Specifically, City had more players (14) selected to represent their countries in the Euros than any other side in the Premier League.
This, therefore, led to several occasions where certain figures had to play against their club teammates.
Now though, Kyle Walker, who ended up being one of the three outfield figures to play every minute of action for England in the tournament, has been speaking about one particular incident where he was up against one of his City teammates.
Kyle Walker reflects on Manuel Akanji penalty miss in Euro 2024
Walker opened up about how he felt when Manuel Akanji missed his penalty in the shootout between Switzerland and England in the quarter-finals of the Euros, which the Three Lions ultimately won, in a recent edition of You’ll Never Beat Kyle Walker.
He said: “First and foremost, I’m representing England so I wanted to go and jump with the lads.
“But then, directly after that, I was looking for Manu, and obviously he was very emotional and upset because he was the one that missed.
“Sometimes it’s a cruel game, one was going to miss and I wished it for to be anyone else in that team except him.
“But he had the courage to step up and take it as the first penalty taker and it just wasn’t meant to be.
“But Manu will have bounced back from it, he would have been disappointed for a couple of days, gone away with his family and enjoyed his summer and hopefully now ready to start the big season with City.”
Walker showed his class with Akanji gesture
Akanji played a similarly vital role for Switzerland at the Euros as Walker did for England, as he played every minute of their five games before being knocked out on penalties by the Three Lions.
Interestingly, Luke Shaw revealed that Walker played a key role in this particular penalty incident as he was pointing to Jordan Pickford in goal about which way Akanji was going to place his penalty.
Despite that, the fact that the right-back has now shared how much he felt sorry for his City teammate shows the class he has and the affection he has for his club colleague.
