Man City stars on scoresheet as England U21s beat Luxembourg U21s
E
ngland Under-21s made a successful begin to the defence of their European Championship title with a 3-0 win in Luxembourg.
Manchester City and Chelsea kids had been on the scoresheet, with Liam Delap marking his debut with a objective to present the Young Lions a half-time lead on the Stade Parc des Sports, earlier than Callum Doyle and Cole Palmer netted after the break.
England, Euro 2023 winners in Georgia and Romania earlier this summer time, had a irritating first half of their opening Euro 2025 qualifier.
Luxembourg, who beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in Lurgan final Thursday, made life tough for England by defending deep and in massive numbers.
Harvey Elliott twice went near giving England an early lead, together with his close-range effort blocked earlier than firing inches vast from outdoors the penalty space.
Juventus ahead Samuel Iling-Junior blazed over from in entrance of objective and Nathan Wood headed straight at goalkeeper Eldin Latik.
Latik then saved Palmer’s low effort and Doyle headed narrowly astray as the possibilities mounted up for England.
Another goal-bound shot from Palmer was properly saved, however Lee Carsley’s aspect made the breakthrough simply earlier than the interval.
Palmer dissected the deep-lying Luxembourg defence with a neat through-ball and Delap utilized a poacher’s end.
Miguel Fernandes had Luxembourg’s first effort on the right track 10 minutes into the second interval when his shot was saved by James Trafford.
But the Young Lions doubled their lead within the 58th minute when City defender Doyle, on mortgage at Leicester, lashed dwelling from contained in the penalty space.
Palmer accomplished a powerful night time for City’s younger gamers when he struck the objective of the sport within the 67th minute, an outstanding first-time end from substitute Jamie Bynoe-Gittens’ quick move.
Palmer noticed one other goal-bound effort properly saved within the backside nook earlier than Trafford was pressured to avoid wasting from Lucas Correia’s effort.
England took their foot off the fuel within the closing phases, however went shut once more by means of Doyle’s header and Palmer, who fired straight at Latik.
Additional reporting by Press Association.