Ollie Watkins described his match winner against Netherlands as “greedy” to send England to a second consecutive Euros Final.
Watkins struck the winning goal with a second to spare before second-half injury time after he picked up a pass into the box from fellow substitute, Cole Palmer, and turned to rifle his shot low just inside the left corner.
“Unbelievable, I’ve been waiting for that moment for weeks,” commented the Aston Villa forward as he scored his fourth international goal – although this was his first goal for England scored on foreign soil after his previous three goals came at Wembley Stadium, London.
Watkins began his senior career at Exeter but went on loan to National League South’s Weston-super Mare in 2014-15 season, before he went on to become a quality striker at Brentford and Villa.
The 28 year-old is “delighted” by his career progress but he quipped that he ha joked with Palmer that they would achieve the winning goal together.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work to get to where I am today and I’m grateful that I’ve got the opportunity and I’ve grabbed it with both hands and I’m delighted. I’m just delighted.
“I swear on my life, on my kid’s life, I said to Cole Palmer: ‘we’re coming on today and you’re going to set me up’ and that’s why I was so happy with Coley.
“I knew as soon as he got the ball, he was going to play me and you’ve got to be greedy, touch and finish. And when I’ve seen it go in the bottom corner, that’s the best feeling ever.”
Looking ahead to the final against Spain, Watkins warned that the Three Lions won’t fear going behind given their gutsy knockout performances.
“Yeah, exactly, we’ve got that kind of bounce back factor, going to go behind, but it seems to kick us into gear and we never give up.
“We’ve won on penalties, we’ve come from behind.
“One more game now, one more game.”
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