Kalvin Phillips: England's man of the match vs Croatia had stage fright ahead of tournament debut

"At first when you hear your name your heart is in your mouth," Kalvin Phillips, who won man of the match against Croatia told the Lions' Den. "I had a full day of thinking 'oh no, am I going to mess it up?' but then you get to grips with it and be ready for anything that comes"

By PA Media

Image: Kalvin Phillips made quite the impression on his tournament debut for England

Kalvin Phillips admits he had a day of worrying he would mess up on his tournament debut for England - only to put in a man of the match display to help see off Croatia in their Euro 2020 opener.

The 25-year-old put in a standout performance as England beat their Group D rivals 1-0 at Wembley on Sunday.

Phillips laid on the only goal of the game for Raheem Sterling to cap off a fine individual display which earned him plenty of plaudits.

While UEFA handed its star of the match award to Sterling, Phillips would claim the official England man of the match gong.

But he conceded it could have been different, having been concerned of stage fright when he was first made aware he would be starting.

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Gary Neville expects changes to be made to England's line-up for their clash with Scotland on Friday, with the pressure being on Gareth Southgate's side to be proactive in attack

"We only found out [the team] the day before," he told the Lions' Den. "We did some set-piece meetings and [boss] Gareth (Southgate) named the team. At first when you hear your name your heart is in your mouth.

"I had a full day of thinking 'oh no, am I going to mess it up?' but then you get to grips with it and be ready for anything that comes.

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"When you see you are lining up against (Luka) Modric and (Mateo) Kovacic you know it doesn't get any tougher than that."

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