England MU21s stars react to booking their place in the Under-21 EURO final

Morgan Gibbs-White says he is ‘pretty speechless right now’ after helping England MU21s reach a first UEFA Under-21 Championship final in 14 years.

Gibbs-White scored the first of three goals as the Young Lions beat Israel 3-0 in Wednesday’s semi-final at the Batumi Arena in Georgia.

Second-half goals from Cole Palmer and substitute Cameron Archer then completed the convincing win to book a spot in Saturday’s final against Spain, with kick-off at 5pm and the game being shown live on Channel 4 in the UK and on UEFA.tv.

Nottingham Forest star Gibbs-White, who had seen a penalty go wide before opening the scoring, said: "I'm pretty speechless right now. But we all believed we could do it. 

“From the get-go, we've been working so hard with the same team for the last two years, and our only goal was to make this final and we’ve achieved it now so we’re grateful.

“But there is so much work still to be done so we'll get back on the training ground tomorrow, be focused and work harder than ever."

Liverpool’s Curtis Jones was one of many impressive performers on the night, with UEFA’s technical observer panel naming him Player of the Match after a display where they felt he was ‘a leader on the pitch, excellent positionally, reads the game well and has brilliant distribution in attack.’

When Jones was asked if he could sum up his feelings, he replied: “No I can’t really. I just want to say thank you to the whole team and the staff as well because they have done a great job.

“We’re in the final now and I think it will be a good one.”

He continued: "Israel are a good side. In the group game against them [which England won 2-0], they pressed us and we managed to play around them a bit. In this one, they sat back and made it hard. But we came through, and that's what a good team does.”

Curtis Jones = a leader on the pitch. Boss 🥇

#U21EURO pic.twitter.com/nPOc40AjpY

— #U21EURO (@UEFAUnder21) July 5, 2023

Tonight’s 3-0 win means England have now averaged two goals per game across the five matches so far and have yet to concede a goal during the wins over Czechia, Israel (twice), Germany and Portugal.

Jones continued: “We’re a hell of a team. The stats speak for themselves: we're scoring goals and not conceding and not giving away chances. 

“We're a well-organised team as well so the final will be good. It'll be tough, of course, but we're ready."