England fans narrow their search down to two Three Lions stars and are ‘not surprised’ after Trent Alexander-Arnold was caught telling friends that a team-mate ‘didn’t want to take a penalty’ against Switzerland

Social media sleuths have narrowed their hunt down two members of the England squad after Trent Alexander-Arnold revealed a teammate “didn’t want to take a penalty” against Switzerland.

The Liverpool star came off the bench in the second half of extra time to take a penalty during the shoot-out and scored the decisive goal to send England into the semi-finals.

Alexander-Arnold was brought on by Gareth Southgate to take a penalty, a decision which paid off as he sent Yann Sommer the wrong way after Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Ivan Toney had all scored.

The 25-year-old celebrated with friends and family after the match, and was heard saying “I didn’t want to take one” in a video that went viral.

His comment has sparked a debate about who didn’t want to take a penalty. And hours after the dramatic victory, two names have been on the lips of English fans.

Many England fans are convinced the Liverpool star was referring to Harry Kane or Phil Foden.

Neither England captain Kane (left) nor Foden (right) were on the pitch during the penalty shoot-out.

“He didn’t want to take a dead body like Foden,” one fan wrote on X. Another said: “I can only think it was Kane or Foden.

“It has to be Kane or Foden,” another follower speculated on the social media platform.

Another wrote: ‘Trent is definitely referring to Phil Foden. He was taken off five minutes from the end of the TAA v Switzerland game. I’m not surprised to be honest. Foden doesn’t strike me as someone with the balls to take an international penalty shoot-out.’

“I wonder who this is. Rice? Foden? Eze?” said another fan, adding two more players to the list.

Players who were on the pitch at the time of the shoot-out and did not take any penalties included Jordan Pickford, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw and Eberechi Eze.

But both Phil Foden and Harry Kane were out, with the Liverpool defender replacing the Manchester City star and Toney coming on for the England captain after he collided with Gareth Southgate on the touchline after being pushed by Manuel Akanji.

Kane has successfully taken penalties in each of England’s previous shoot-out victories under Southgate. He is also the team’s penalty taker and enjoys a superb record from 12 metres.

It is also possible that Alexander-Arnold was referring to a Swiss player. He is said to have faced Manchester City’s Akanji on several occasions and also played with Xherdan Shaqiri at Liverpool.

Sources close to the England camp say the penalty takers were chosen by Southgate and his coaching staff, and the players had no choice.

Saturday’s victory was the third penalty shoot-out win for the English side in the last eight years under Southgate, having won just one of their previous seven at major tournaments.

Fans have been speculating about the identity of the player Alexander-Arnold was referring to.

The 25-year-old scored the decisive penalty to complete a perfect run of penalties for England.

The Three Lions have now won three of their four penalty shoot-outs under Gareth Southgate

Their only recent defeat came in the Euro 2020 final against Italy at Wembley.

England will be back in action on Wednesday when they face the Netherlands in the semi-final after Ronald Koeman’s side came from behind to beat Turkey 2-1 on Saturday night.