
England's dynamic winger Bukayo Saka has expressed immense pride after his spectacular hat-trick against France catapulted him into an elite bracket of iconic Three Lions goalscorers.
The Arsenal attacker was the centerpiece of a breathtaking 10-goal bronze final at Miami Stadium on Saturday, driving Thomas Tuchel's side to a 6-4 victory.
While it wasn't the championship match the squad had set their sights on before the tournament began, the triumph secured England's most successful finish at a FIFA World Cup on foreign soil, and their best overall placing since 1966.
With his stunning performance in Florida, the 24-year-old forward etched his name into English football history as only the fourth player to net a hat-trick for the nation at a World Cup final, following in the footsteps of Sir Geoff Hurst in 1966, Gary Lineker in 1986, and Harry Kane in 2018.
Furthermore, Saka became just the third Englishman to score three or more goals across two distinct iterations of the tournament, joining Lineker and Kane in that exclusive tier.
"That was fantastic. It was enjoyable and an amazing achievement of course," Saka reflected in his post-match interview, source FIFA.
"I’ve just been told there's only four players for England that scored World Cup hat-tricks, and you know who those players are as well. That is an elite list to be part of. It makes me very proud."
The dramatic showdown saw England command a staggering 4-0 lead by halftime following tactical modifications from head coach Thomas Tuchel, who opted to rotate his starting line-up for the tournament finale.
The scoring outburst allowed England to draw level with France on 20 total goals, finishing the competition tied as the highest-scoring nations in the tournament.
Despite a furious second-half fightback from the French team, the Three Lions held their ground to finish their campaign on a high note.
"I think it was more about finishing the tournament strong because as a group that's what we deserve," Saka explained.
"Obviously we believe as a whole we should have gone all the way and that we should be playing tomorrow, not today. But the reality is that we were playing today and we just wanted to finish strong. I’m happy we’ve done that."
Saka also shared insights from the locker room, shedding light on Tuchel’s emotional parting message to the squad as their intense six-week journey came to an end.
"He just told us how proud he is of us and that he's going to miss us. We're going to miss each other. You know, the six, seven weeks we bonded like crazy," the winger revealed.
"That was the message and we leave with a proud feeling of what we've done today as a team, and we’ll focus on winning next time."


