England's Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Anthony Gordon react to U21 EURO title win

England men’s under-21s captain Taylor Harwood-Bellis had the honour of leading the squad up to collect the UEFA U21 EURO trophy on Saturday evening, after their 1-0 victory over Spain in the Final in Batumi.

And the defender spoke afterwards of his honour at both landing the title and also playing in a record-breaking squad who didn’t concede a goal in six games at the Finals.

“It didn’t feel real until I got my hands on it [the trophy], but the lads had been talking about it and it felt like it was our time to do it,” said the Manchester City player, who also picked up silverware last season when winning the EFL Championship title during a loan spell with Burnley.

“With our history, there was a lot of pressure on us to do well, and I’m buzzing, not just for me but all of the lads and the coaching staff. It’s one big family and it feels like a club. Everyone deserves it and we’ll celebrate together.

CHAMPIONS! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/0YwqxJzEyF

— England (@England) July 8, 2023

“Traff [James Trafford] will get a lot of credit, which he thoroughly deserves, but it’s down to all the team. Even the lads who didn’t play too many minutes, but played against Germany who are a top team and nation so it’s not easy to keep a clean sheet against them.

“The other lads were pushing us when we were starting and then when they were starting, we were pushing them, and that’s something we pride ourselves on.

 

“No-one expected that we wouldn’t take a punch and not concede a goal, but as we’ve seen tonight we dug in, and we dug in against Portugal, and having that record is massive.

“I thought we deserved the win.  The whole group; the togetherness, the intensity in training and everyone wants to be here. There’s not one player who has pulled the group down, even the boys who aren’t playing have been the best around the place and that’s something you can’t buy. 

“We talk about how we forget about the games when we’re at the hotel, we play games and wind each other up and there’s no-one you can’t sit and have a chat or coffee with and of course, the quality of all 23 players. But for me, it’s about the togetherness of the team.”

Anthony Gordon also had an extra honour to bring home, after he was named as the player of the tournament following his performances for Lee Carsley’s side.

But the Newcastle United player was in no mood for taking all the plaudits as he praised his squad-mates and backroom staff for their part in the victory.

“I’m delighted and over the moon,” said Gordon. “I feel as though I’ve had a good tournament and I don’t want give the cliché because it’s the truth – me winning the [player of the tournament] trophy was down to my teammates and the staff.

“Lee and everyone involved have been really good with me throughout. The team is a really unselfish group and there could’ve been six or seven players who won it. That’s testament to how together we’ve been throughout the tournament.

“It was a very intense game, but we knew that coming into. Spain are a top team and they’re known for pushing players through their pathway and they have a particular style of play which is difficult to play against.

 

HISTORY MAKERS!

The moment our #YoungLions won the #U21EURO 🤩 pic.twitter.com/kV184maAGO

— England (@England) July 8, 2023

“So we knew we’d have to dig in at times and we did that really well ,and in tournaments sometimes you need a bit of luck and it came our way.

“You see right at the end, you can never stop against teams like that and when they got a pen, we had Traff, who by the way could’ve been player of the tournament - I’ve never seen a goalkeeper perform like that in front of my eyes over five games.

“I felt coming into the tournament, we had so much individual ability but it’s how you structure that and how we as individuals can put our egos aside and come together as one and that was the main part.

“Our chemistry off the pitch was second-to-none, I can’t tell you how good it was and I feel like the group in general was together in one goal and that was what we did.”