England have earned right to be Euro 2024 favourites: Kane

England captain Harry Kane said the Three Lions “are here to win” Euro 2024 as they aim to live up to the tag of pre-tournament favourites in their opening game against Serbia on Sunday.

Kane was part of the England side that fell agonisingly short in the final of Euro 2020, losing on penalties to Italy on home soil, to prolong their drought without a major tournament win to 58 years.

Since then, the development of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka has helped form a fearsome attacking quartet, alongside Bayern Munich striker Kane.

“Every tournament poses different expectations but we’ve earned the right to be classed as one of the favourites,” Kane told a pre-match press conference in Gelsenkirchen.

Under Gareth Southgate, England have also missed out by fine margins at the last two World Cups.

They lost a semi-final to Croatia in extra-time in 2018 before Kane missed a late penalty in a 2-1 quarter-final defeat to France at Qatar 2022.

“We look at ourselves individually and as a team and we know in part we’ve done a lot of things well and made the country proud in good tournaments,” added Kane.

“We’re here to win ultimately and there will be nothing better than to do that for the nation.

“There’s a lot of top teams and tomorrow night is our focus. We know how tough it was to get to the final last time.

“We’re going to have to do that again and even more if we want to do that again and hopefully one step further.”