England lose to Italy as both sides crash out

Agencies Olomouc, June 25 England crashed out of the European Under-21 Championship with a resounding 3-1 loss to Italy on Wednesday evening. Gareth Southgate's men finished bottom of Group B having lost their opening clash to Portugal on Thursday and closing game against the Azzurri in Olomouc. Sunday's victory against Sweden, secured via Jesse Lingard's late volley, is the only consolation as England head home early once more. Their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals were dealt a critical blow within two first-half minutes when Andrea Belotti and Marco Benassi both struck, slightly against the run of play, for Luigi Di Biagio's side. The Young Lions grew into the game after the break, with Jesse Lingard and Nathan Redmond carving open chances for themselves but wasteful with their finishes, before Benassi put the result beyond doubt late on.Redmond saw England finish with a flourish after netting a fiercely hit consolation in stoppage time, but it was too little too late as Sweden and Portugal advanced from the group stage at their expense - after securing a mutually beneficial 1-1. England started the night positively, with Danny Ings and Luke Garbutt immediately on the front foot to force two early corners, but Daniele Rugani was able to clear under pressure. Ings should have opened the scoring shortly afterwards after being played through on goal with a fine pass from Harry Kane, but the new Liverpool striker sent the ball wide when one-on-one with Francesco Bardi. Italy were patient, building from the back and using Davide Zappacosta as an outlet to break through a tight England defence, though Ben Gibson was alert early on to clear Alessio Romagnoli's goal-bound header. Di Biagio's side did make the breakthrough midway through the first half, Belotti darting into the England penalty area to acrobatically poke Domenico Beradi's fine through-ball past Jake Butland. And Benassi made it two just over a minute later with England stunned having afforded Lorenzo Crisetig far too much space in midfield to find the Torino man, who slotted home from the edge of the area via a Gibson deflection. England continued to enjoy the majority of possession and Redmond managed to wriggle past the attentions of Romagnoli and Cristino Biraghi to bring a fine save from Bardi before Kane was thwarted from range. The second half started in similarly positive fashion for England as the first, with Lingard carving open a fine chance inside two minutes but flashing his shot wide from a good position. It was pedestrian at times from England, though, and they struggled with the superior intensity of their opponents who were equally happy to let Southgate's men huff and puff and make mistakes. Di Biagio replaced striker Berardi with defender Stefano Sabelli in an attempt to close out the result, but Italy went on to further extend their lead through Benassi again. It spelt the end of another disappointing showing at a major tournament for an England national side, with Redmond's late consolation just their second goal in three games as they failed to reach the semi-finals. Despite their resounding victory Italy also crashed out, with group rivals Portugal and Sweden playing out their 1-1 draw with a long spell of aimless possession.