'I think that's important and one thing about the group in this last three, four weeks, the work rate, the endeavour, the effort has been absolutely incredible.

'Even for me having played with quite a few of them, to see it from the other side is inspiring really.'

Next up for England is Italy in the quarter-finals on Sunday where centre-back Joleon Lescott could come up against his Manchester City team-mate Mario Balotelli.

And Neville claimed the maverick striker would be desperate to get one over on England.

'Joleon will know him better than we do, that's the great thing,' he said.

'There will be no surprise for Joleon on Sunday and the same for John Terry who'll have played against him as well, so that's a good thing.

'But obviously knowing and playing against him means that there will be that added extra spice that Balotelli himself will want to put one over on England.

'He plays in the country, he's a big figure in England with respect to the media he gets and he's a champion of England now with Manchester City and he will be very difficult to play against.'

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