ENGLAND WERE KNOCKED out of the World Cup last night.

The team were beaten 2-1 by Croatia after extra-time despite taking an early lead in the game.

Reaching the second-last stage was the team’s best performance in football’s biggest competition for 28 years but English fans remain disappointed today.

So what have the papers made of it all?

In years gone by, English papers have often been quick to find a villain when England exit a tournament and have been seen as more of a hindrance than a help to the team’s chances.

But this year the tone around the team has been more positive and that has extended to today’s headlines.

Such as in The Mirror

Both The Guardian and The Times referenced Baddiel and Skinner

Manager Gareth Southgate and his waistcoat were front and centre in the Daily Express

Metro might have won the best pun award for its effort

The Daily Telegraph gave the team pride of place above Trump

The Daily Mail claimed the team had ‘brought the whole nation together’. There were a lot of similar sentiments in these Brexity times

The Telegraph’s celebrated cartoonist Matt Pritchett was on the ball with the Brexit comparisons

And of the course there were the ‘what might have been’ angles. Sunday Times executive editor Ben Preston tweeted a picture of what would have been the cover of a special supplement had England reached the final this weekend.