Arsenal and Man City Champions League exits hands Gareth Southgate major boost

England manager Gareth Southgate has been handed a significant boost after Arsenal and Manchester City were knocked out of the Champions League.

Southgate typically gives his players a week off after the final Premier League game of the season, which this year falls on Sunday, May 19, ahead of major tournaments. However, with the Champions League final scheduled for Saturday, June 1, he would have had to plan around the involvement of Arsenal's Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Aaron Ramsdale plus City stars such as Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and John Stones.

With Bayern Munich set to face Real Madrid in the semi-final, either Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham will definitely be involved in the final. But Southgate's biggest concern had been potentially being without a number of key players for his Euro preparations and the friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland on June 3 and 7 respectively.

Those not participating in the FA Cup final or any other European games will join up during the week commencing May 27. Players involved in the FA Cup final on May 25 will still get a week's break and are unlikely to feature in England's first friendly.

Kane and Bellingham are each hoping to be the late arrivals at England's camp, with their respective clubs just two matches away from the final at Wembley, reports the Mirror. England skipper Kane has already reached out to Bellingham following their respective Champions League semi-final advancements, remarking post-Arsenal's exit at hands of Bayern on Wednesday: "Jude has had a fantastic season, he's a top player, so I'm really happy for him, but it will be another war against his team.

"But that's the experiences that we both went abroad to try to achieve, to play in these big nights in the Champions League to play in these big semi-finals. It will be one to enjoy and I'm sure there will be a lot of English fans watching both of us. We have to focus on ourselves."

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The former Tottenham striker then turned his attention to the upcoming clash, adding: "Of course, I'll say hello but once we're on the pitch, it's business. With Wembley being our national stadium, it's extra motivation there for us but there are two games ahead of us before that, which are going to be really tough so we have to focus on that.

"Real Madrid is of course a big club with an impressive history in the Champions League. It will be a difficult semi-final for us, but that's what the semi-finals of the Champions League are about: playing against the biggest clubs. We will now enjoy this victory and then prepare for the games."