England star pays tribute to Young Lions after Euro U21 clash ends in chaos
England Under-21s defence of their European title continued with a 3-1 quarter-final win over pre-tournament favourites Spain, to book a final four showdown with Netherlands
Harvey Elliott paid tribute to England's fighting spirit after reaching the semi-finals of the U21 European Championships.
There were fiery scenes at the full-time whistle as players from both sets of teams came head-to-head after England ran out 3-1 winners to book a tie with the Netherlands in the final four.
The Liverpool attacker, who netted the second for the Young Lions, said of his side's performance: "Incredible, I'm lost for words I think. I said at the start of the game it's going to be very tough, I knew they'd play an incredible game against us.
"I thought the lads handled it and handled the pressure, we conceded a goal and were determined to keep on going and keep on fighting. We deserve it so much. It's kind of time to celebrate it but we need to think about the semis now and go again."
It boiled over Trnava, Slovakia as Spain's anger didn't mix well with England's celebrations. Coaches from both teams had to split the players up, with the match officials also getting involved.
Spain's Rafa Marin was sent off following the full-time whistle, while England goalscorer James McAtee picked up a booking. But Elliott has revealed he tried to diffuse the situation in fear England were at risk of getting players sent off and suspended for their semi-final against Holland.
He added: "I don't know [what caused it], it's always going to happen due to the passion of both teams. I was trying to calm everyone down, we have everything to lose and they don't but we have to focus now and not get too carried away.
"We can't lose players for the semi-final."
Elliott also noted the vast improvement from England as they scored three goals to eliminate the tournament favourites.
He continued: "There was a major difference from start to finish. We were compact as a team and fought together, we didn't give up and we trusted in our own ability.
"The football was just incredible, we need to take a lot of things from this game. We have to take it game by game, we can't be thinking too far ahead.
"We need to recover as it's going to be another tough game. Who knows if we can defend it."
Young Lions boss Carsley said of his defending champions: "The big thing is this can't be our final, this can't be the highlight of our tournament. There are better nights to come and it's good now we've got an extra day recovery so I'm looking forward to the next game now.
"We talked about making a fast start and we obviously gave away a penalty inside the opening two minutes but the lads showed a lot of character, I thought we were so good in the first half."There were some really outstanding performances and they should be proud of themselves."
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