Ethan Nwaneri has shared his delight after helping England retain the European Under-21 Championship.
The Arsenal star featured in all six of the Three Lions’ matches during the tournament, with Lee Carsley’s men defeating Germany 3-2 in the final on Saturday to successfully defend their European crown. Harvey Elliott had sent his side ahead only minutes in before Omari Hutchinson doubled the lead.
Germany dragged themselves back into the contest with goals from Nelson Weiper and Paul Nebel either side of half-time. Nebel had the chance to snatch victory with a minute to go in normal time when his deflected effort smashed off the crossbar but substitute Jonathan Rowe went on to find the eventual winner with a header two minutes into extra-time.
Nwaneri was introduced for James McAtee at the start of extra-time and was seen celebrating with his teammates after the full-time whistle. The 18-year-old took to Instagram on Sunday to post a six-word message following the European triumph.
“What a team – Champions of Europe,” the teenager said. Nwaneri also posted some pictures of himself celebrating with his winners medal around his neck.
Elliott was among those to comment on the post, with the Liverpool man writing: “Young king.” Myles Lewis-Skelly commented a love heart emoji, while Reiss Nelson wrote: “Cold.”
Nwaneri will now have a well earned break before joining up with his Arsenal teammates in July for pre-season. The Gunners squad will fly to Singapore on July 19 and Nwaneri is likely to meet up slightly later so he can recover and rest.
After England’s win over Germany, Carsley expressed his pride at his players’ achievement. “I’m proud of the players, the commitment they’ve shown over the last 28 days and all the instruction we’ve tried to put into them so quickly, they’ve taken it on board,” he told Channel 4 post-match.
“They’ve got so much belief, we spoke about it when we were at St George’s that this squad believe that they can win and that’s the kind of players we need. I’m so proud of them, so happy for them. To be European champions for the second time is a great achievement and I suppose the challenge now is to do it again in two years.
“Any setback we’ve had, the players have just got together. I think I said at the start of the tournament, the longer we stay in, the better we play. I didn’t think we played great tonight, I thought we sat a little bit too deep and didn’t have as much control as I would’ve wanted, but we probably won’t remember that in a couple of days.”
