England trio re-live U21 EURO success

Ahead of Saturday’s UEFA U21 EURO Final between England and Germany, Three Lions trio Cole Palmer, Curtis Jones and James Trafford looked back on their own memories of the winning the title at the 2023 edition of the competition.

They were all key members of Lee Carsley’s squad in Georgia and Romania two years ago, with Palmer setting up Jones’ winning goal and Trafford saving a stoppage-time penalty in a dramatic final in Tbilisi.

And as well as sending good luck to Carsley’s current squad in Slovakia, they watched some of our exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of a memorable night in the latest of our ‘Generations’ feature.

“We’re fortunate enough now to be in the first team, but we’re looking back at two years ago and looking at that tournament,” said Jones.

“We all wanted to play as a team, and we knew if we didn’t then we wouldn’t stand a chance so all of the lads put all their pride aside and it was like the team that Cars [Carsley] picked was the team that played.”

Cole added: “I agree, we had a good team on paper but it was just about if we could play as a team and yeah, we did it.”

“I was always confident we were going to win, because of how we played through the tournament and with the players we had, we were just in too good a form,” said Trafford.

Looking back at the Final against Spain, in which Jones’ first-half goal came via a deflection off his back from Palmer’s free-kick before Trafford’s stoppage time heroics prompted wild celebrations, it brought back some fond memories of the dynamics and spirit among the group.

And they all spoke in depth about how they managed the game, from the winning goal through to Trafford revealing how he remained the coolest man on the pitch as he faced Abel Ruiz’s spot kick in the dying seconds before producing a stunning double save which was even predicted by Cole from the sidelines.

“I knew Traff was going to save it, just knowing him from U13s and he hadn’t conceded throughout the tournament, I just knew it was going to happen,” said Cole, who came through the youth ranks with the Burnley ‘keeper at Manchester City.

“It was just better than winning 1-0, with the pen save.”

Trafford continued: “Levi told me it was a pen, so I just looked at my bottle and dived right. We’d done it the night before so I knew I was just going to dive right and see what happens…

“We watched his pens and said he was going to go to my right, the majority go there so I was confident when it was him [Ruiz]. I just tried to put him off, wait for him to kick it and dive and then it just happens so quick so you don’t have time to think about it.”

And Jones finished off with his own tribute to Carsley, saying: “He’s one of the best. I’ve worked with a lot of top coaches and how he made our team feel like a football team, when you have lads from different clubs and different paths shows how intelligent he is.

“It was unbelievable, and it was never about him. It was always all about us, and I think that’s why we did well because we wanted to repay him.

“So good luck to all the lads and all the staff, stick together, play as a team and work hard so make sure you bring the trophy home!"

You can watch Saturday's U21 EURO Final in the UK on Channel 4, or it will be streamed on UEFA.TV