Steven Gerrard says England deserve a hero's reception when they return from the World Cup and admits Gareth Southgate's men did better than his Golden Generation ever could.

The former Three Lions skipper watched on Wednesday night as England's journey came to an end after defeat to Croatia in the semi-finals.

Gerrard, who made it to the quarter-final in 2006, said: 'I'm gutted for the players and I'm gutted for Gareth because, as everyone knows, it was an incredible opportunity to go to a World Cup final.

Steven Gerrard believes England deserve hero's reception when they return from Russia

The Rangers boss admitted that England did better than his Golden Generation ever could

'Having reflected on it for 24 hours you can be nothing but proud of the players and the coaching staff. They did an awful lot better than I ever did, or we ever did.'

The Rangers boss added: 'All I can do is tip my hat and congratulate them. They deserve a hell of a reception when they return and let's hope it's the start of something big for them. I was mightily impressed by them.

'Yes we got a bit of luck with the draw and came up against teams we proved to be better than.

'In the end Croatia were a little bit too good and had a little bit too much in the tank, but we can't be critical of what they've done, they were absolutely superb.'