DAN BURN will be getting used to winning at Wembley.
Five days on from his Carabao Cup final heroics, the Newcastle United centre-half was back at the national stadium making a successful debut with England.
Burn played the full 90 minutes as Thomas Tuchel’s reign in charge of the Three Lions began with a thoroughly-routine 2-0 win over Albania thanks to goals from Myles Lewis-Skelly and Harry Kane.
The presence of Lewis-Skelly and Burn in the starting line-up was eye-catching, but this was business as usual for England, who became accustomed to brushing aside inferior opposition in qualifiers under Gareth Southgate.
Serbia might provide a tougher test later in the year, but Tuchel really will have underperformed if his England side fail to secure an automatic spot at next year’s World Cup in North America. This was an acceptable start, no more, no less.
What a week it has been for Burn though. On Sunday, the Blyth-born centre-half was fulfilling a lifetime dream as he headed home the opening goal of Newcastle’s Carabao Cup final win over Liverpool.
Five days later, and he was back at Wembley ticking another key moment off his bucket list as he made his England debut alongside Ezri Konsa at the heart of the back four.
Burn looked calm and composed as patiently passed the ball around at the back, and while better opponents than Albania might well have asked more searching defensive questions, the North-Easterner can nevertheless be satisfied with his performance as he became England’s second-oldest debutant of the current millennium.
He had a heart in the mouth moment midway through the first half, with his sliding clearance from an Albanian cross sending the ball looping into the air and onto his own crossbar. A scrambling Jordan Pickford seemed to lose his bearings, forcing Burn to hastily head behind for a corner to prevent any danger from the rebound.
Towards the end of the first half, though, his value in the opposition penalty area became apparent as he headed against the woodwork again, this time at the other end.
The whole world knows all about Burn’s aerial threat after he repeatedly outjumped Alexis Mac Allister at the weekend, but as Arsenal centre-half Gabriel will no doubt attest, being aware of a set-piece issue and successfully dealing with it are two completely different things.
There were plenty of Albanian defenders around Burn as he peeled to the back post to meet Declan Rice’s corner, but he rose above them all before thumping a powerful header against the crossbar.
Burn was one of two debutants in the England team, and it was the other that was responsible for the home side’s 20th-minute opener, the first goal of Thomas Tuchel’s reign.
Lewis-Skelly got the nod to start at left-back despite only really breaking into the Arsenal first team in the last two or three months, and the 18-year-old certainly made the most of his chance.
Having broken on the outside of Albanian full-back Ivan Balliu to reach Jobe Bellingham’s perfectly-weighted through ball, Lewis-Skelly stabbed a composed first-time finish through the legs of goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
Kane twice went close to extending England’s lead, first seeing a shot blocked after Strakosha had saved from Bellingham, then, in the second half, glancing a header wide from a left-wing cross.
Burn had one difficult moment in the second half, when Albanian substitute Armando Broja darted away from him down the right-hand side before delivering a cross that Kyle Walker dealt with, but the visitors lacked ambition for most of the night and seemed content to settle for a one-goal defeat.
England’s failure to extend their lead until the 77th minute was disappointing, with neither Phil Foden nor Marcus Rashford doing much to embellish their reputations. Foden, whose form with Manchester City this season has been extremely underwhelming, looked lost stationed on the right-hand side, while Rashford, back in regular action with Aston Villa, failed to ask any serious questions of the Albanian defence from England’s left.
At least you can still rely on Kane. England’s skipper claimed his 70th international goal with 13 minutes remaining, controlling Declan Rice’s chipped cross at the back post before firing a low angled drive into the far corner.
