England vs Italy LIVE: Nations League result, final score and reaction tonight

Kieran Trippier called it a privilege to play alongside “special” skipper Harry Kane as the England full-back vowed to do anything he can to help Gareth Southgate’s side.

After starting the Nations League with a shock 1-0 loss in Hungary, the Three Lions dug deep at the Allianz Arena to secure a 1-1 draw with Germany on Tuesday evening.

Jonas Hofmann’s second-half strike was cancelled out by a late spot-kick from Kane, who fired past Manuel Neuer to become just the second man to reach 50 goals for England.

Wayne Rooney’s record haul of 53 is tantalisingly close and Trippier, a former Tottenham team-mate and long-standing international colleague of Kane, was full of praise for the England captain.

“He is special and I am privileged to have played with him for club and country,” he said.

“Fifty goals is incredible. He’s a top pro and a great leader. There are only a couple more goals to go for Harry (until he breaks Rooney’s record).”

Given the number of football people that are still obsessed with golf, many have naturally been messaging friends on the tour about the LIV controversy. The responses have been as varied as they have been predictable. Some are aghast at golf’s august institutions being ravaged, some think it’s fair enough to take the money. A core of the game’s officials fear something similar again for football, others are sensing more opportunity.

Many are describing it as “golf’s European Super League moment”, and it is why the threat of that project is still so pertinent. Its next steps will dictate the future of the game, and decide whether anything even worse – such as LIV Soccer – is yet possible in football.

As regards to something so overt, everything depends on the court hearing being brought by the ESL to the European Court of Justice over 11-12 July. That will decide whether the rebel clubs have a justifiable case that Uefa is abusing a monopoly position as a competition organiser. If that were to be taken forward, and the ESL were to win, it would open the way for the clubs - or any other interests - to set up their own events. Football would be in a whole new world, which could eventually resemble a “wild west” of different competitions.

Your traditional club season feeding into the Champions League and then European Championships and World Cup? You can forget that.

Uefa, for their part, are supremely confident that their role as the game’s safeguard will see an institution as “political” as the ECJ rule on their side. The view is that football has too much social value, and the effect would be too great.

Against that, though, the ESL are going to produce a lot of evidence arguing Uefa instead operates as a monopoly.

Much will depend on whether the case is overseen on a primarily commercial basis or sociopolitical. If the former, and it’s about pure competition, the ESL have a decent chance of winning. That would remove one of the old football world’s few remaining protections.

A LIV Soccer would at least be feasibly possible.

Striker and captain Harry Kane has already made his intentions clear: he wants to play, score and become England’s all-time top goalscorer.

Here are the current standings for the rest of the Three Lions’ greatest goal-getters:

1. Wayne Rooney 53

2. Harry Kane 50

3. Bobby Charlton 49

4. Gary Lineker 48

5. Jimmy Greaves 44

6. Michael Owen 40

7. Nat Lofthouse, Alan Shearer, Tom Finney 30

10. Vivian Woodward, Frank Lampard 29

Since the Euro 2020 final when these sides met at Wembley, England have played 11 games.

They have managed seven wins, three draws and just that one defeat recently to Hungary; with their best result being 10-0 away to San Marino. The toughest opponents would be Germany, who they drew with, and Switzerland, who they beat at home.

As for Italy, it’s 12 games for them as a result of their play-off exploits for the World Cup - and it has been a struggle.

Just four wins have come in that time, with five draws and three defeats, the most recent of which was in the Finalissima and the most devastating of which was against North Macedonia in the World Cup play-off semi-final.

Arsenal footballer Bukayo Saka was given the day off from training with the England squad so he could take a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to meet the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace.

He was among up to 500 invited guests at a reception hosted by the royal couple to celebrate the contribution of the people of the Commonwealth in the UK.

The 20-year-old international forward said he did not have to convince England manager Gareth Southgate to give him a pass from training because the event was “really important” to him.

England are preparing to meet Italy and then Hungary in the Nations League.

Saka, who was voted Arsenal’s player of the season, said: “It is an honour to be invited here. Obviously I know how valuable the royal family are and to be able to be here to meet them.

“Obviously I had to leave the England camp, so I have to thank Gareth for letting me do that because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I am so happy.”

When Gareth Southgate finally sent Jack Grealish on to try and rescue Tuesday’s Nations League game against Germany, he had distinctive but decisive instructions. The England manager told Grealish to just be himself, to not constrain himself, and to “try and create”.

That was precisely what the playmaker did, and he revelled in it. It was clearly to the benefit of both Grealish and the team, as England, at last, put Germany under real pressure and forced the equaliser for a 1-1 draw. Grealish himself was beaming about it all by the time he spoke to the press after the game.

“I feel sometimes when I’m here I can try and play with as much freedom as possible,” he smiled. “I felt like I did that today.”

A potentially mischievous interpretation of that might be that it’s some time since Grealish has been allowed to do that, given his ongoing adaptation at Manchester City, except he immediately offered up an explanation along those lines himself.

He was asked whether he feels freer for England.

“I do think that, yeah. I feel at times I’ve played a bit safe at City but when I come here I feel like even in training I train really well: score goals, get assists and whatnot. When I come on the pitch… it’s hard to explain. I do feel like I play with a lot more freedom here and hopefully I can transfer that into my club football and keep on improving.

More from Chief Football Writer Miguel Delaney on Grealish and his England role:

Gareth Southgate insists he will not be too loyal to the England players who have been integral to his team in recent years as he claimed the current crop would “die for each other” on the pitch.

The Three Lions battled back from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Germany in their Nations League group clash on Tuesday night.

Harry Kane’s late penalty, his 50th England goal, cancelled out Jonas Hofmann’s opener as Southgate’s side extended their unbeaten run against Germany to three games.

Of the 14 players who featured in the draw at the Allianz Arena, West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen was the only one who was not part of the squad beaten on penalties in the final of Euro 2020 last summer.

Seven of the starters against Germany were also in the line-up that lost to Croatia in the last four of the 2018 World Cup.

Asked if he can be too loyal to those players, Southgate replied: “”No. We’re totally open-minded. Bukayo (Saka) came out of the pack and we didn’t hesitate putting Jude (Bellingham) into the fray, which was an incredible experience for him.

“But to win big matches there’s a huge amount of qualities that are needed. It’s not just about talent. You’ve got to have knowhow and awareness.

“They tested us tactically without the ball to such a high level, with the movement and runs they made, the techniques, so the reading of the game and communication on the pitch is vital. That group of players have played together a lot and on those nights it’s vital.”

Record-chasing skipper Harry Kane would love to start England’s final two fixtures of a mammoth season having reached 50 internationals goals in the hard-fought Nations League draw with Germany.

The 28-year-old made his 60th appearance for club and country on Tuesday evening in Munich, where he kept his cool to fire a last-gasp spot-kick past Manuel Neuer to secure a 1-1 draw.

England had been staring down the barrel of back-to-back Nations League losses after Jonas Hofmann struck to put Germany on course to compound Saturday’s shock 1-0 loss at unfancied Hungary.

But the Three Lions captain converted the penalty he won to seal an important point, reaching a half century of international goals in the process as he edges closer to Wayne Rooney’s all-time record of 53.

“It doesn’t get much bigger,” Kane said of the setting for his 50th England goal. “Germany is obviously one of our rivals over the years and a really big game, whether it’s Nations League, European competitions, World Cup, friendly.

“It’s always a big game for us, for our fans, for the country.”

Kalvin Phillips suffered a “severe dead leg” in England’s 1-1 Nations League draw with Germany on Tuesday evening and is a doubt for the weekend visit of Italy.

The Leeds midfielder was forced off to be replaced by Jude Bellingham, the teenage midfielder a household name in Germany with Borussia Dortmund. The injury inadvertently caused controversy in Munich, as the home fans were incensed when Jamal Musiala looped the ball over Jordan Pickford and into the back of the net, only for the goal to be ruled out as Phillips was down clutching his leg.

“It’s not ideal in any way shape or form to lose a really important player after 15, 20 minutes,” said Gareth Southgate, whose side face Italy at Molineux on Saturday before hosting Hungary at the same ground next Tuesday. “Hopefully it’s not too bad. It’s quite a severe dead leg. It’s hard to know how long that will be.”

Southgate has meanwhile challenged Jack Grealish to earn a starting spot in the side. Grealish helped change the momentum of the contest after he replaced Mason Mount with just 18 minutes remaining.

Half of Grealish’s 22 England caps have come as a substitute and he has only finished 90 minutes three times for his country. Asked if he sees the Manchester City man as an impact player or a starter, Southgate replied: “I think he can be both. If we didn’t trust him we wouldn’t put him on the pitch with 20 minutes to go in the belief he can make a difference.

Gareth Southgate will make significant changes to the England team for Saturday’s Nations League match against Italy, as he admitted “player welfare” is a factor.

The manager referenced how many of the major nations like Spain and France made between seven and 10 changes for what he described as “a unique set of games”. Aaron Ramsdale and Tammy Abraham will potentially start at the expense of Jordan Pickford and Harry Kane, respectively, with Southgate stating he will seek to use both in at least one of the two remaining games.

While the England manager again acknowledged that runs the risk of a poor result and criticism, he reiterated his decision-making has to go beyond that, especially in a World Cup year. Speaking figuratively, Southgate said some of the players could “barely walk in the dressing room”, after a “phenomenal effort” coming back to draw 1-1 away to Germany.

Asked whether he would make changes, Southgate said: “I think we will because I think you have seen right across Europe – France changed 10, Spain changed eight, Portugal changed seven. So this is quite a unique set of games where teams are thinking about player welfare to a degree, freshness, but also they are preparing for a World Cup because they know what’s coming and what they haven’t got in terms of friendlies ahead of the tournament. So strategically it’s a bit of a unique situation and I think you are seeing it right across Europe”.