England stars erupted into a furious brawl after beating Spain 3-1 at the Under-21 European Championship. Tensions boiled over at full-time as defender Young Lions defender Charlie Cresswell and his team-mates were confronted by opposing players.
It is unclear what prompted the anger from the Spanish players but Cresswell seemed to be the target of their ire. Almost every outfield player was involved in the fight, with some having to be pulled away by staff and officials. Spain’s players continued to confront Cresswell, who was similar angry with his opponents. Substitutes and coaching staff from both teams joined the melee with the referee struggling to keep the incident under control. Former England and Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who is head coach Lee Carsley’s assistant manager, demanded that the players get themselves back into the dressing room and avoid getting in trouble.
Cresswell was eventually led away after an angry exchange with Spain defender Cristhian Mosquera. But even as England’s coaching staff held an arm around the Toulouse star and prevented any Spain player from confronting him again, other players could be seen arguing.
Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton then seemed to confront a member of the Spanish entourage. However, he was quickly led away by Carsley as the tension finally appeared to cool down.
Speaking to Channel 4 about the incident, midfielder Harvey Elliott said: “It was always going to happen because of the passion from both teams. It is one of those where I was trying to calm everyone down. End of the day, we have got everything to lose. They don’t, they can get players sent off. We can’t lose players for the semi-final.”
England produced their best performance of the tournament so far. Carsley ditched a controversial striker-less system and deployed Birmingham star Jay Stansfield in the No. 9 role. His work at the top of the pitch was crucial to England’s victory.
Goals by James McAtee and Elliott put England 2-0 ahead. Cresswell had earlier escaped with VAR overturning a Spain penalty.
Javier Guerra converted a spot-kick to make it 2-1 but a professional display by England saw them limit their opponents to very few chances. Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson scored a penalty in added-time.
Elliott added: “It’s incredible. I am lost for words. We knew it was going to be very tough. The were going to play an incredible game against us. But the way the lads handled the pressure even after conceding the goal, we deserved it so much. It’s time to celebrate but we need to start thinking of the semi-finals tonight.
“There was a major difference form start to finish. We were compact. We were a team. We fought together. We didn’t give up. We trusted in our ability. The football was just incredible. We need to take a lot of things from this game to the next.”