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England retained their U21 European Championship title after holding on to beat Germany 3-2 after extra-time in a gripping final in Bratislava.
The Young Lions won the tournament in 2023 with a 1-0 win over Spain in Georgia and followed it up in Bratislava, just shy of two years later, repeating the feat the nation achieved in 1982 and 1984.
The victory came just 10 days after Lee Carsley’s side had lost 2-1 in the same fixture during the tournament’s group stages.
There was barely a moment to breathe throughout. Harvey Elliott and Omari Hutchinson put England 2-0 up inside 25 minutes, but it was 2-2 just after the hour, with goals from Nelson Weiper and Paul Nebel ultimately sending the game to extra-time.
And inside the first two minutes of the added 30, Jonathan Rowe’s first action as a substitute was to glance home a sumptuous Tyler Morton cross to seal a historic win.
Elliott had lit up Wednesday’s semi-final against the Netherlands, scoring the two goals that secured England’s progress – and before the game had even really got going, he plundered his fifth of the tournament, finishing off a move he initiated by drilling into the bottom right corner.
The Young Lions were already brimming with confidence, but the early goal took that up a notch and they began to slice the Germans open at will.
Harvey Elliott’s fifth goal of the tournament put England in front
With 24 minutes on the clock, they added a second. Sublime link-up play between Elliott and James McAtee allowed the latter to hold off two men and find Hutchinson, who struck through the legs of Noah Atubolu – and celebrated with a trademark somersault.
A wake-up call was delivered to England in stoppage time, just after they had lost Alex Scott to injury. Nebel was given the time to lift in a cross from the left that found Weiper who, under little pressure, planted a bullet header past James Beadle.
Paul Nebel’s goal sent the final to extra-time
Germany found the cutting edge they had been lacking in the first half in the second. England started to afford them space, none more so than when they drew level. A corner dropped for Nebel, who had could pick his spot under little pressure, with Jay Stansfield’s unfortunate touch helping a great strike over the line.
At the very end of a second half that had ebbed and flowed in the truest sense of the phrase, the same man almost won it. Nebel’s shot from the edge of the box struck Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s boot and time seemed to stand still as it arrowed towards the top corner, then cannoned back of the crossbar.
Elliott and McAtee were withdrawn with cramp in the moments before extra time – and within seconds of his introduction, Rowe wrote his name into the history books with the priceless touch.
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