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By NATHAN SALT Published: 09: 34 AEDT, 22 March 2025 | Updated: 10: 20 AEDT, 22 March 2025 View comments If England needed a reminder of just how difficult it will be to defend their Under-21 European Championships title this summer they got it in full force here against a star-studded France. Lee Carsley, back in charge of the Under-21s having been in temporary charge of the seniors in the last camp, arrived in Lorient ready to see how this current crop fared against one of the world’s best talent generators. What he saw was a topsy-turvy eight-goal thriller where Manchester United target Hugo Ekitike scored a hat-trick, Lyon’s Rayan Cherki ran the game with a goal and two assists and Harvey Elliott missed a penalty. Carsley was bold in his selection, opting to switch to a 3-4-3 system with Elliot and James Mc Atee either side of Liam Delap in attack. ‘This is our European Championship preparation, ’ Carsley said. ‘It was important that we tried something different. ’ England’s front-foot approach paid off 95 seconds in when Mc Atee lashed in from inside the six-yard box after Delap’s initial header from the corner was parried. Harvey Elliott misses from the penalty spot as England Under-21s were beaten 5-3 by France Lyon's Rayan Cherki (right) was supreme in running the game for France, providing two assists It was a tricky return to England U21 duty for Lee Carsley after his spell with the senior team But this French team, which counts former Arsenal invincible Gael Clichy among its coaching staff, is stacked full of potential superstars and within five minutes they were leading. Quentin Merlin drew the hosts level and Cherki, sublime here and the orchestrator of that Merlin strike, had his hand in the second when his ball over the top picked out Ekitike who lifted over England goalkeeper James Beadle. Cherki, who added a fifth late on, was so far ahead of his peers he was often reduced to walking pace and France’s fun continued when Ekitike back-heeled in to convert Wilson Odobert’s cross to make it 3-1. There was still time for a frantic first half to throw up even more drama when Elliott reduced the deficit by tapping in on the line after a header back across goal by Mc Atee. England made sure they didn’t roll over in the second half with a header from a yard out from Delap following Ekitike’s hat-trick goal making it 4-3. And before all was said and done Elliott missed a penalty, Cherki scored France’s fifth and Omari Hutchinson to be sent off for England. ‘We have to experiment, ’ Carlsey added. ‘We have to try something and we're trying it against a top team as well. It's a good test for the players. ‘We always want to play with a punch and we want to score goals. ’
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