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“I told you it was coming, didn’t I? It’s about time,” a beaming Jordan Henderson told ITV Sport’s Gabriel Clarke inside Rome’s Olympic Stadium.
The wild celebrations sparked by the Liverpool captain’s first goal for England in the Euro 2020 quarter-final demolition of Ukraine showcased both what playing for his country means to him and also the high esteem in which he’s held by team-mates and staff alike.
Over a decade after making his senior international debut against France under Fabio Capello, Henderson ended his barren run on the biggest of stages, marking his 62nd cap by emphatically powering home a header from Mason Mount’s corner for England’s fourth and final goal of the night. No player who has scored for England has ever had to wait longer to get off the mark.