Gordon: Scoring against Argentina was the peak of my life; I taught myself Spanish at Everton

On Wednesday local time, Gordon attended England's pre-match press conference ahead of their match against Spain. In the third part of the press conference (divided into five parts due to its length), he discussed his expectations for the game.

The two best-performing England players at the World Cup play for Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, respectively. Do you think this is a coincidence?

It's not a coincidence. The world's top players will always play for the world's top clubs, and that's no accident. If it were that simple, everyone would do it. So it's not surprising that two of the world's elite players are at top clubs. I watch Bellingham's matches every time now. Of course, I hope he loses, but he's had an incredibly bright start to the season. I've been following him closely, and his personal form is excellent.

Next question: You're facing a match against world champions Spain at Wembley this Saturday that feels like a World Cup final. As players, do you want to prove on the field that you truly deserve to be in the final? How do you plan to defeat your opponents?

It's difficult. We can never prove that we would have won if we had reached the final. That's just speculation, with no way to verify it, and this match isn't a World Cup final after all. But we can look at it from another perspective: this is a major showdown against one of the world's strongest teams. If we're not motivated to demonstrate our strength against such an opponent, we'll never have the chance. Spain is an extremely good team.

I've talked to my Barcelona teammates, and they believe the match would have been much more intense if we had been the final opponent instead of Argentina. I think Spain played very dominantly in the final, so in this match, we can show them our strength. Although we can't replicate the final, performing well and winning against the world's strongest team would be enough for now.

You said you don't want to bring up the semi-finals again, but after returning to St. George's Park for training, did Tuchel review and summarize the match with the whole team?

Yes, we had a meeting on the first day of training. This is very important, like the scar we just talked about. We can't deceive ourselves; it was a major loss, and we were so close to winning. We can only move forward after discussing it honestly. The overall atmosphere of the meeting was very positive, and the head coach expressed a lot of gratitude.

For me, that summer was the best time of my life, full of unforgettable moments, and I felt incredibly proud and happy. It was just a huge emotional contrast: scoring that goal against Argentina was the peak of my life, and just 20 minutes later, I hit rock bottom. So this review was very necessary.

You've had a very bright start in LaLiga, with 5 starts in 6 LaLiga matches and 4 assists, tied for the team's assist leader. But Flick will also have high demands on you. How similar are his coaching demands compared to Tuchel's?

Both are Germans, both place great emphasis on high pressing, and both are frank and sincere people. They are both good people. I like this direct style; I benefit more when the coach tells me honestly what he expects from me. I have a good relationship with both of them, and they both have extremely high demands on their players.

After all, Tuchel coaches a world-class national team, and Flick manages a top club like Barcelona. They are bound to demand high standards from their players. When you join Barcelona, you have to understand this: every match carries immense pressure, a draw is almost equivalent to a loss, and dropping points or a poor performance is unacceptable. And this is exactly the challenge I want. I aspire to play at the highest level, so I thrive on this pressure.

Second question: When you first arrived in Spain, your fluent Spanish shocked everyone. How are you learning now? How did you learn so quickly? Did you use a multilingual learning app?

I taught myself Spanish during my time at Everton; that had always been my goal. I didn't have a dedicated teacher then. In recent months, I've hired a teacher and made significant progress. I understand most Spanish, and my speaking is also improving.

However, understanding Spanish and speaking it fluently are completely different things. When others speak very quickly, I sometimes can't keep up, and I'm not yet confident enough to conduct press conferences in Spanish.

I want what I express to be exactly the same as what I would say in English; I want to express myself authentically, not just recite basic clichés that sound mechanical and stiff. I plan to do interviews in Spanish once my Spanish is good enough.

AF's PC site is now live! Browse full news, comments, match details and stats on your computer. Visit: www.allfootballapp.com