‘A rollercoaster of emotions’ – England stars Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Marcus Rashford react to World Cup exit

Captain Harry Kane, midfielder Declan Rice and defender Harry Maguire are among the England players to have reacted to a painful World Cup quarter-final defeat to France.

Skipper Kane then lashed a spot kick over the bar with five minutes to go in a painful end to an otherwise encouraging performance from Gareth Southgate’s side.

England headed home on Sunday, the day after their elimination, and several players spoke out on social medial to make their feelings known.

Southgate’s side topped Group B after beating Wales and Iran and drawing with the USA, before cruising past Senegal in the last 16.

But defending champions France proved a step too far for the Euro 2020 runners-up, who could not match their feat from four years ago by reaching the last four.

“Absolutely gutted. We’ve given it everything and it’s come down to a small detail which I take responsibility for,” Kane wrote on Twitter.

“There’s no hiding from it, it hurts and it’ll take some time to get over it but that’s part of sport.

“Now it’s about using the experience to be mentally and physically stronger for the next challenge. Thanks for all the support throughout the tournament – it means a lot.”

Maguire said: “Last night hurt. Absolutely gutted. Special thanks to Gareth and you amazing fans who kept belief in me.

“I love my country and I hope we made you proud.”

Rice wrote: “The greater the talent, the greater the aim. The greater the aim, the greater the pain along the path to reaching it.

“This is all part of the journey to us being successful as a team. Thank you to everyone for your incredible support. We gave it absolutely everything.”

Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford scored three goals for England in Qatar.

“The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of emotions, each and every one of our team gave everything we had to be ready for what was thrown at us, we got close, but not close enough,” Rashford said.

“I’ll make a promise that we will come again! Thank you for the unconditional support.”

Mason Mount was the next to take to Twitter with his thoughts.

“Waking up today, it still hurts just as much… the heart and determination of this team has been nothing short of inspiring, we wanted to go further, but it wasn’t to be,” wrote the Chelsea man.

“The support we felt this tournament pushed us more than ever, a special thank you to you all who were with us every step of the way.

“Proud to call this group not only my team-mates, but my brothers. We’ll go again. There are so many special moments ahead together. We are England.”