England skipper Taylor Harwood-Bellis will head into Saturday’s European Under-21s Championship final convinced his side deserve to emerge with the trophy.
Lee Carsley’s youngsters face Spain at the Batumi Arena in Georgia determined to deny their opponents a record sixth title after sailing into the showdown having won all five of their games – three of them at final venue – to date in the tournament without conceding a goal.
Manchester City defender Harwood-Bellis admits he has been dreaming of getting his hands on the silverware, but knows there is plenty to do before he and his team-mates can celebrate a first success in the competition since 1984.
Speaking at England’s pre-match press conference, he said: “It’s good to visualise yourself lifting the trophy, but there’s a long way to go before that happens. At least 90 minutes.
“It would be massive for us to win. We’ve put in so much work over the last two years, we’ve played at such a high level and I think the squad would deserve to lift the trophy.”
England’s progress in Georgia and Romania has been serene, topping Group C with successive 2-0 victories over Czech Republic, Israel and Germany before edging past Portugal in the last eight and dispatching the Israelis for a second time in the semi-finals.
Spain, who last lifted the trophy in 2019, are likely to provide a much sterner test, although Carsley believes there is more to come from his side.
He said: “We were ranking sixth coming into the tournament, so getting to the final is a big achievement. I felt getting out of the group was a good achievement. But I think this team has another two or three levels to go.
“Since coming into the knockout stages, we know we only have one chance. Someone is going to win tomorrow. I expect us to be under pressure, but the players know that too, and I know they will react in the right way.
“We’ve watched Spain a lot. They’re a great team. My players have played brilliantly this tournament, and now they have a chance to show everyone back home they are potential new senior internationals.”
Spain captain Abel Ruiz, like coach Santi Denia and team-mates Antonio Blanco, Sergio Gomez, Juan Miranda, are looking to complete a treble after winning the Under-17s European Championship in 2017 – they beat an England team including Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho on penalties in the final – and the Under-19s edition two years later.
Ruiz said: “We know England well – there are one or two of them who played against us at Under-17s level.
“We expect a keenly contested game. They have kept plenty of clean sheets. We know we have to do really well to be able to score against them and take the trophy.”
Denia added: “We have to try and play the perfect game. We need to be as near to that as possible to beat England. It’s difficult, but that’s what we need to do.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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