Walker has looked to Pepe and Luka Modric for inspiration as he looks to become one of international football’s old-timers.

The England vice-captain recently turned 34 and has twice been talked out of international retirement by manager Gareth Southgate before, but now thinks Euro 2024 will not be his last tournament as he considers the prospect of carrying on for years.

Walker has taken heart from Croatia captain Luka Modric, who was named the third best player in the 2022 World Cup at 37, and Portugal defender Pepe, who became the oldest player in the history of the European Championship when he faced Czech Republic in Leipzig on Tuesday and hopes to prove he can excel as a footballing pensioner as well.

The Manchester City right-back has exceeded his own expectations by winning 84 caps and hopes there are many more to come.

He said: “Of course I want to go as far as I can. To represent my country as many times as I have done – honestly, I never thought I’d do it once, so to do it for the amount of years I’ve done it, I have to say is a credit to myself. But I look at Pepe and he’s 41 playing for Portugal. So, they’re the levels people are setting now, the likes of Luka Modric, people like that. These are people carrying on for top teams at a top level for a considerable amount of time. If they can do it, why can’t I?”

Walker did joke with media afterwards, stating: “Cheers lads. Keep writing though. Keep writing – I just don’t read it. But you’re doing well.”

A senior player in Kyle Walker exemplified the approach that Southgate spoke about, as he freely spoke of how he pays no attention to any discussion around a tournament.

“He had a brief talk with us last night, and normally there are 20 other Premier League teams to write about and fill columns about. Now all eyes are on us boys over here representing our country and we are all coming together as one.

“So obviously there is going to be a massive scrutiny in certain performances or certain things we do, but I think we cannot take away that we came away from there with three points on the board, a clean sheet and in a good stead for this game against Denmark.

“I don’t look at anything. Because I feel I’m in here and this is the only little bubble. I feel when you concentrate not on two games or three games time but just one game at a time, I feel that’s when you get the best out of each other. When you start listening to outside noise, or good press and bad press, it affects different people in different ways.

“If you were to write good things or bad things about me, if I don’t read it I don’t react and don’t change my opinion on what I’m going to approach a game like.

“I approach a game as a team game, I approach a game to go and win the game at all costs, and that’s all I care about really.”

“There’s going to be a narrative around a player, a couple of players, after every England game,” Southgate said. “This is a different world to the one you experience at clubs. The players as a collective recognise that now after the last couple of days. We talked with them about it. It’s very rare at their club they’d win a game and experience what they’ve experienced over the last couple of days.

“I have to make sure I can guide them through that, let them understand it and recognise it’s the reality of our world but that we shouldn’t be thrown off track by it. We’re in a good position, we know we want to play better, there are a lot of things we did really well and we move towards tomorrow’s game.”

Gareth Southgate has told his young England squad to shut out all criticism, as they held a specific meeting over excessive scrutiny before the second Euro 2024 fixture against Denmark.

England opened their campaign with a 1-0 win over Serbia, although the restrained nature of the performance did receive criticism. The aim is to ensure they are further focussed for the game in Frankfurt against Denmark.

Kieran Trippier will mark a half-century of England caps if he starts as expected in Frankfurt.

The Newcastle defender has been operating at left-back with Luke Shaw still battling back to full fitness having not played for Manchester United since suffering a hamstring injury in February.

Trippier is a more than able deputy and one of the men Southgate had relied upon at all four major tournaments at the helm – but he will need another strong showing if he is to keep his place once Shaw is ready for action.

England supporters will be hoping for a much smoother ride when they make the journey to Frankfurt, having experienced issues in the previous game in Gelsenkirchen.

Travel chaos before and after the Serbia game left some fans stranded in and around the stadium and unable to make onward journeys once they made it back into the city centre.

With the Deutsche Bank Park, home of Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt, better connected fans will be optimistic of a better all-round experience.

England beat Denmark in extra-time in the Euro 2020 semi-finals, coming from behind to win 2-1 in contentious circumstances.

A Mikkel Damsgaard free-kick had put the Danes ahead at an expectant Wembley only for Simon Kjaer’s own goal to level for England and take the game into an additional 30 minutes.

There, England were awarded a soft penalty as Joakim Maehle was deemed to have fouled Raheem Sterling. Harry Kane’s spot-kick was saved but he turned home the rebound to send his country through to the final.

Denmark have not forgotten about the decision. Head coach Kasper Hjulmand said: “Maybe some of the players can take something from that.”

Another quandary for Southgate to resolve is fitting two of his best players into the starting XI without clipping either of their wings.

Jude Bellingham was the match-winner against Serbia and arguably England’s stand-out player, while Foden was on the periphery for much of the contest as he continues his struggles of bringing his club form at Manchester City to the international stage.

Southgate insisted after the game that the pair can co-exist but if it does not click soon, comparisons to the Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard issue that plagued a number of his predecessors could emerge.