England vs Serbia staring XI confirmed as Gareth Southgate prepares for Three Lions' opening Euro 2024 clash

16 June 2024, 19:47

England has confirmed its starting XI against Serbia ahead of the first Euro 2024 clash in Germany.

Gareth Southgate has named his 11-man starting line-up ahead of England's Sunday night's game, with Trent Alexander-Arnold partnering Declan Rice in midfield.

Thousands of England fans have descended on Gelsenkirchen ahead of the national side's opening game against Serbia, with kick-off taking place at 8pm.

Fans were pictured drinking, chanting, arm-wrestling and having kickabouts in the centre of the west German city on Sunday.

England go into the tournament among the favourites, but lost their last warm-up game to Iceland on Friday.

The England starting line-up comprises of: Pickford (Everton), Walker (Man City), Guehi (Palace), Stones (Man City), Trippier (Newcastle); Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Rice (Arsenal); Saka (Arsenal), Bellingham (Real Madrid), Foden (Man City); Kane (Bayern Munich).

Traditional heavyweights Germany, Italy and Spain have all made winning starts to the Euros, with the hosts thrashing Scotland 5-1 on Friday night in the tournament curtain-raiser.

It comes as football fans clashed across the city of Gelsenkirchen, with videos posted to social media hours before kick-off showing German police officers, some dressed in riot gear, breaking up violence.

Some 300,000 England fans are thought to have made the trip to Germany for the Euros, although only a minority of those will be in the stadium itself on Sunday night.

Read more: England fans warned of 'violence-seeking Serbian hooligans' ahead of 'high-risk' Euros opener

Read more: England fans to be served low-alcohol beer at first Euros game against Serbia deemed 'high risk' due to 'hooligan fans'

Serbia has also named its starting line-up ahead of the game.

The Serbian starting line-up consists of: Rajkovic (Mallorca); Veljkovic (Werder Bremen), Milenkovic (Fiorentina), Pavlovich (Red Bull Salzburg); Zivkovich (PAOK), Gudelj (Sevilla), Lukic (Fulham), Kostic (Juventus); Milenkovic-Savic (Al Hilal); Vlahovic (Juventus), Mitrovic (Al Hilal).

England fans were warned ahead of the Euros of 500 “violence-seeking Serbian hooligans” expected to attend the Sunday night game.

England’s recent Euros campaigns have been plagued with violence, most notably before their opening game in France in 2016 against Russia and ahead of the final of the last tournament

There appears to have been little trouble so far in the build-up, although one England fan was arrested and then released after a dispute with a fellow supporter.

Before the tournament there was some debate about the longstanding 'Ten German Bombers' song, with fans warned by German authorities that they faced arrest if they chanted it.

Despite this, fans have been seen singing the chant, and there were even reports some German locals saw the funny side and joined in.

Meanwhile Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wished Gareth Southgate and his men good luck before the game.

Arsenal fan Sir Keir said: "There is no feeling like the build up to the first England game of an international tournament: the pubs filling up, the flags waving, the nerves and excitement building.

"As fans up and down the country get ready for kick off, I want to wish Gareth and the team all the best on behalf of the Labour Party.

"We will be with you for every twist, turn and VAR decision. England is behind you. Make it a summer to remember."

Elsewhere in Germany, a man was shot by police in Hamburg on Saturday after brandishing a knife and a molotov cocktail close to a fan zone for Dutch fans. He is being treated for his injuries.