Gerrard: This is hard to take

England captain Steven Gerrard admitted it was tough to take after a “heartbreaking” exit from Euro 2012 following a penalty shoot-out defeat against Italy.

This was the latest in a long line of penalty shoot-out exits from major tournaments, following on from 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004 and 2006, and while Gerrard praised his team-mates for their showing in Poland and Ukraine, he conceded it was a painful way to go out.

“Everyone’s been great in training, every time we’ve come out I think we’ve done the country proud, but again we’re going home with heartbreak, which is difficult to take,” he told BBC1.