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Harry Kane won and scored England's penalty. (Image: Getty)
Teddy Sheringham believes England were fortunate to be awarded the penalty that led to Harry Kane's equaliser in Wednesday's Euro 2024 victory against the Netherlands. The Three Lions fought back from trailing early in the semi-final to win 2-1 and reach their second successive European Championships final.
Sunday's showpiece against a formidable Spain side at Berlin's Olimpiastadion will be the first final England have contested on foreign soil.
Gareth Southgate has also made history by becoming the first men's national team manager to reach two finals during his reign.
But the Netherlands felt hard done by after their last-gasp defeat in Dortmund due to Kane's controversial first-half penalty.
Xavi Simons handed Ronald Koeman's orange army a dream start by rocketing a long-range strike beyond the reach of Jordan Pickford after just seven minutes.
Shortly after, a surprise VAR check adjudged Denzel Dumfries to have fouled Kane while attempting to block a sliced shot.
The England captain made no mistake from the penalty spot, joining Alan Shearer as the country's record scorer at the European Championships with his seventh goal.
Ollie Watkins replaced Kane in the latter stages and produced a memorable 90th-minute strike, taking a touch and drilling a low effort across Bart Verbruggen to send England to Berlin.
Harry Kane scored his third goal of Euro 2024. (Image: Getty)
The Three Lions are among the favourites to win this summer's Euro 2024 tournament and you can get your hands on the brand new Nike home and away kits before the first whistle.
Koeman and Virgil van Dijk were prominent Dutch names to condemn referee Felix Zwayer's decision to overturn his original penalty call.
And Sheringham believes England were lucky to have received a pathway straight back into the game from the penalty spot.
"Well, back in my day, someone could have thrown themselves from 10 yards away when you're having a shot, and it caught you in a much worse problem," Sheringham told Express Sport on behalf of Online Poker.
"But because they were defending a goalscoring opportunity, it was allowed, it was expected.
"But if you put it the other way, if you analyse the situation, if that happened anywhere else on the pitch, that would be a foul nowadays. So if that's the case, then it's a penalty.
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"I'm sure if the Dutch had been given a penalty like that we'd have all been fuming, but, you know, it is what it is.
"The game is changing, and they're trying to outlaw that late challenge coming in. We got lucky."
England enter Sunday's final as the underdogs against a Spain team that has won all six of their Euro 2024 matches - including victories over Croatia, Italy, Germany and France.
Kane will be eyeing his second Golden Boot at a major international tournament after becoming the joint leader with his third goal this summer against the Netherlands.