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England have won back-to-back European U21 Championship titles for the first time since 1984 by beating Germany 3-2 in a thrilling final. Substitute Jonathan Rowe headed in from an excellent Tyler Morton cross early on in extra-time to guide his country to glory at the Tehelne Pole Stadium in Bratislava. Young Lions boss Lee Carsley has now added a second U21s Euros title to his resume, with England's U21s now four-time winners of the competition. It's the first time in 41 years that they've won consecutive trophies, with 1982 and 1984 their last such achievement. Meanwhile Harvey Elliott and Charlie Cresswell have joined Danny Thomas in being the only England players to win the U21 Euros twice. England are also the first country since 2013 champions Spain, who they beat in the 2023 final, to make it two in a row. Liverpool star Elliott, who was named as the Player of the Tournament, scored a historic opening goal to get England off to a dream start with only five minutes played to mark an excellent start to the match. Their second goal came through Omari Hutchinson to almost leave Germany out of sight before the half-hour mark. But Nelson Weiper reduced the deficit for Germany shortly before the break and then Paul Nebel netted to send it to extra-time. Rowe was brought on for goalscorer Elliott as England prepared for another 30 minutes of action. And the former Norwich City star justified the decision made by head coach Carsley by producing the winning moment in what was just his third touch - two minutes into the first half. Speaking to Channel 4 after the win, Marseille forward Rowe said: "Everyone is exceptional. "From the minute I came into the camp, I could just tell everyone had the same mindset; we all wanted to win. "We've done that now - the job's finally finished and we can all celebrate! "I came into the game with the mindset of doing anything I could to help the team. "I wasn't starting, but I knew, at some point, all of us on the bench would have to come on, make a difference and help the team to push it over the line. "I'm so happy we managed to do that in front of some important people tonight. " England's win over Germany has seen them exact revenge against their opposing over their 4-0 thrashing in the 2009 final. This latest title win has also mirrored their first in 1982 as they won 5-4 on aggregate against West Germany. Meanwhile it was Germany's first defeat at U21 level in two years, with their last defeat coming against England in the group stages of the tournament in 2023. England slowly but surely marked their presence in the tournament as they won only once in the group stage against the Czech Republic. A 0-0 draw with Slovenia was then followed by a 2-1 defeat to Germany, although they still did enough to advance to the last eight. The previous tournament's runners-up Spain were beaten before the Netherlands as England finally found some rhythm. Despite squandering a two-goal lead, they had enough quality to get the crucial third and earn more U21 Euros success. England boss Thomas Tuchel was in attendance and will maybe have some food for thought ahead of his next squad selection. He may even want to count Carsley amongst his coaching staff at the 2026 World Cup. But Carsley has insisted he has already set his sights on a historic three successive U21 titles in 2027. He remarked: "I'm so happy for them to be European champions for the second time is a great achievement and the challenge now is to do it again in two years. "It's important they have a shandy or two tonight. "Any setback we've had, the players have just got together. I said at the start of the tournament, the longer we can stay in, the better we play. "I didn't think we played great tonight. I thought we probably sat a little bit too deep and didn't have as much control as I would've wanted, but I probably won't remember that in a couple of days. "I'm going to try and enjoy tonight. It's important. I love my job, I'm very proud of the job I do, I love working with the players. "I've had a chance with the senior team and I love that, so the best thing I can do is help the pathway and try and help the senior team. " © 2025 talk SPORT Limited

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