McAtee skippers England to UEFA U21 Championship final | OneFootball

James McAtee will lead England Under-21s out in the UEFA U21 Championship final after a 2-1 win over Netherlands.

The City forward played 80 minutes of the semi-final against the Dutch in the sweltering heat in Bratislava’s Štadión Tehelné pole – a happy venue for McAtee who scored his first City goal there against Slovan Bratislava last November in the Champions League.

It was a typically industrious display by McAtee – earning his 23rd U21 cap - though he had few chances to add to his Young Lions goal tally which currently stands at eight.

The best opportunities fell to Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott who failed to find the net on each occasion.

Despite large periods of dominance, Lee Carsley’s defending champions went in 0-0 at the break with the carrot of a major final for the winner against either Germany or France.

The deadlock was finally broken on 62 minutes, with Elliott making up for his earlier missed chances with a fine goal from a tight angle that gave keeper Robin Roefs no chance, giving England a fully deserved 1-0 lead.

But 10 minutes later, the Dutch were level after a clever long-range effort from Noah Ohio beat James Beadle to make it 1-1.

McAtee’s evening ended on 80 minutes when he was replaced by Marseille’s Jonathan Rowe, and with the game seemingly headed for extra time, Elliott struck his second of the game on 86 minutes with a superb individual effort to make it 2-1 and book a place in Saturday’s final.