Watford boss tips England to edge out Spain in Euro 24 final

Cleverley, who has been a participant in the FA’s International Player to Coach (IP2C) scheme partly devised by national team manager Gareth Southgate, predicts a victory for the Three Lions despite it being by far their toughest challenge.

“This is the biggest, hardest test we have faced by some way. It’ll be very, very difficult,” he said.

“I think Spain will dominate possession, and they will be playing lots of short, connected passes and will look to progress through the thirds towards the England goal.

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“I’m sure Spain will control the match, but we have exciting individuals and we might even be better suited to playing a counter-attacking style.

“And there are tournaments, like this one, where you just think that so many things have happened that it’s going to be our year.

“So I’m going England to win 2-1.”

Cleverley has spent a good deal of time with Southgate as part of his involvement in the IP2C course, and believes victory against Spain would be reward for what he is putting back into the game.

“First and foremost, having got to know Gareth I’m really pleased for him. It’s nice to see the good guys being successful,” said Cleverley.

Gareth Southgate gets a big thumbs-up from Tom Cleverley (Image: Action Images)

“He’s not been stubborn about changing system in the tournament, and he’s found the answers to problems.

“I really hope and believe, for him and everyone else, that we can get the job done on Sunday.”

Southgate has come in for some heavy stick from the media and fans during Euro 24, and Cleverley feels the England manager is getting a raw deal.

“If I had his record in major tournaments, I’d feel hard done by with some of the criticism he gets,” he said.

“Yes, he’s not won anything yet with a really talented group of players but there are six or seven nations that also have really talented squads, so to go final/quarter-final/final and still get criticism is incredibly harsh.”

They may not have won a major tournament, but Southgate’s squad has plenty of players within it that have played in, and won, big games.

Players like Phil Foden have experience of winning big games. (Image: Action Images)

“Harry Kane will obviously be desperate to win something, and then on the other hand you’ve got the Man City players who have got into a habit of just winning trophies.

“As a country, the men’s national team haven’t won anything since 1966, so the players will have added pressure.

“But the Man City players in the squad can lean heavily on recent experiences of winning big games.

“I never played for England at the level that some of these boys are now experiencing, so it’s hard for me to say how they will feel as kick-off gets closer.

“But speaking for myself, I would certainly feel some extra nerves.”