Croatia U21 1-2 England U21: Aidy Boothroyd’s side out of Euro Championship

England suffered injury-time heartbreak as a late Croatia goal saw them fail to make it out of their European Under-21 Championship group.

Domagoj Bradaric’s late stunner secured Croatia’s quarter-final progression.

The knockout phase is scheduled to take place between 31 May-6 June.

Defeats against Portugal and Switzerland meant England, who have now failed to advance past the group stage in five out of the last six competitions, needed the two-goal margin to progress on goal difference.

Aidy Boothroyd’s side, who have failed to advance from the group stage for two successive competitions, finished last in their group – level on points with Switzerland and Croatia but with Croatia edging the three-way head-to-head on goal difference.

England, who managed just one shot on target in the tournament before this match, showed marked improvements on their previous two defeats as Dwight McNeil caused Croatia problems and Liverpool’s Jones looked spritely, later scoring the critical and well-deserved goal.

Boothroyd, who led the under-21s to the last four in 2017, had said that this match was the biggest of his career and described his job as manager as “utterly impossible”.

Five players failed a late fitness test including Ben Godfrey, Tom Davies and Emile Smith Rowe, forcing Boothroyd to make seven changes to his starting XI.

England looked nervous in the opening minutes, losing the ball and struggling to keep their composure, but were awarded a penalty on 11 minutes when Eddie Nketiah was deemed to have been fouled before Eze tucked away a confident penalty.

It was Croatia who enjoyed the better of the chances as Dario Spikic, unmarked in the box, missed a huge opportunity to level proceedings by blasting his shot over the bar.

Aaron Ramsdale was forced into a superb save as England gave the ball away in their own half, leaving Luka Ivanusec one-on-one with the Sheffield United keeper.

The Young Lions looked brighter in the second half as Jones’ long-range shot took a wicked deflection and went wide of the post and McNeil’s well-hit free-kick ricocheted off the post.

A stunning strike into the bottom corner from Jones, who started his first game for England in this tournament, looked to be enough to ensure a place in the next round.

But a wonderful strike from Bradaric in injury-time sealed England’s fate as they were punished for their poor form in previous matches.

This may well have been Boothroyd’s last game in charge of the Under-21s, as his contract is due to expire in the summer.

‘We gave ourselves a mountain to climb’

England U21 manager Aidy Boothroyd speaking to Sky Sports: “I thought tonight we were excellent, we’ve been criticised for not being creative but tonight we were very creative in everything we did. But we missed chances we would normally take and to lose in the manner we did to get in the position where we were in and he’ll [Bradaric] never score a goal like that again – that is very disappointing.

“As far as the group, we gave ourselves a mountain to climb and we almost did it but unfortunately we lose out by one goal and they’re the fine margins. It’s devastating now but an experience like this is something that stays with you forever and will benefit the players in their careers and that’s what the U21s is all about – it’s a developmental team.”

On whether he is the right man for the job: “I think so – the amount of players that have come through this season would suggest there is a pathway working. Our youngest players know they have a chance to play in the first team because of the way we’re structured. Of course it’s important and we want to win but to produce players and win tournaments at the same time is very difficult. I love being involved with these players, I enjoy it and it makes it more difficult to deal with this and answer questions. I will keep going and we’ll see what happens.”