Henry, Trezeguet, Zidane... Ledley recalls Euro 2004, 20 years ago!

It's 20 years, almost to the day - 13 June, 2004 - since Ledley King stepped out for his competitive England debut in the 2004 European Championships.

Before taking a trip back to that summer in Portugal, let's just take that in for a moment - 20 years. That means it's just over 25 years, yes, that's 25 years, since Ledley made his Spurs debut at Anfield.

This interview couldn't start anywhere else. "It's crazy," said our legendary former skipper. "I keep thinking back to certain dates in my career, and it's ridiculous, really. Where does the time go? 25 years since my Spurs debut? That's when you know you're getting old!"

Where do we go from there? "Tears," joked Leds. "It doesn't feel like it's all that long ago. A while back, yes. 20 years? No way!"

Anyway, let's go back to 2004. Ledley, 23 at the time, had impressed in what was a tough 2003/04 campaign here at Spurs, playing 35 times in all competitions, often in a holding midfield role.

Handed his England debut two years earlier by Sven Goran Eriksson, Ledley earned his fifth cap in the final friendly before the tournament against Iceland on 6 June. Eight days later, he was in Eriksson's starting line-up for the opening group stage match against holders France, World Cup winners in 1998, reigning European champions after winning the 2000 edition, runners-up in the 2002 World Cup, and a starting forward line of...

"Henry, Trezeguet, Zidane," said Ledley. "They had all of the players who had done so much for them, but this was also a great opportunity for me to test myself and see where I was at.

"Rio Ferdinand wasn't there, John Terry was carrying a knock, so three or four days before the France game, I found out I was starting alongside Sol Campbell. I had time to get my head around it and zone into what was a huge game for everyone, my first competitive game for England, up against such a great team."

Ledley, and England, played superbly at the Estadio Da Luz in Lisbon. The BBC report states, 'King, who was starting his first match for England, looked impressive and the anonymity of Henry in the first half owed much to the Spurs centre-half's concentration at the back'.

Frank Lampard headed England into the lead on 38 minutes and then the key moment as Mikael Silvestre hacked down Wayne Rooney only for Fabien Barthez to save David Beckham's penalty. There was a sting in the tail as all-time great Zinedine Zidane curled home a free-kick on 90 minutes before converting a penalty for the winner three minutes into added time, 2-1 the final score.

"We played well, 1-0 up, defended well, missed the penalty for 2-0 and then Zidane stuck away a free-kick from outside the box and we kicked-off, went back to David James, he cleared it, they won the header, Steven Gerrard went to go back to James again, Henry read it, nicked it, penalty, Zidane stepped up and that was that.

"One minute we're looking at a great win, the next we've lost. I remember having conversations after that we had to have a positive mindset after playing so well against a top team in a match we should have won."

England's form continued as they beat Switzerland 3-0 and then Croatia 4-2 - Ledley started again - only to go out on penalties to hosts Portugal after a 2-2 draw back in Lisbon. England were so close again - eight minutes from time when a certain Helder Postiga, Ledley's team-mate for the 2003/04 season, struck to take the game into extra time.

"It was unfortunate, small margins again," reflected Ledley. "What did I learn from the tournament? Well, I'd played for England at every level, so I was use to tournaments, using to being away, used to wearing and England shirt... but this was another level. To be in a tournament like that is special. More than anything, it was being able to prove to myself that I belonged at that level.

"Can you get involved in a tournament like that? It's easier said than done, a squad of 23 at that time (26 now), and you want to play a part, not just be there, but feel like you're making a contribution. At 23, it was great to do that and to know I could play against the top players in European football."