England U21s come from behind to beat Germany

England Under-21s delivered a fine performance as they came from behind to defeat European champions Germany in a friendly at Bramall Lane.

Folarin Balogun levelled before the break and England took control when Chelsea midfielder Conor Gallagher swept in two minutes after the interval.

Substitute Cole Palmer’s late goal rounded off the scoring for the hosts.

England boss Lee Carsley made eight changes from the side that started the 2-0 win over Italy Under-21s in Pescara five days ago, with only Levi Colwill, Taylor Harwood-Bellis and Gallagher retained.

Initially that appeared to contribute to a lack of fluency to the hosts’ play as Germany went ahead when the former England Under-19 midfielder Nmecha nodded in from Noah Katterbach’s left-wing cross.

That moment appeared to spark the home side into life and Everton midfielder James Garner headed against the crossbar moments later as England tried to respond.

However, they did not have to wait long for an equaliser. Arsenal forward Balogun, whose impressive start to the season on loan at Ligue 1 side Reims has seen him score five goals in eight games, reacted sharply to drive Anthony Gordon’s deflected cross in off the post.

England’s second goal came shortly after the break when Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey burst through midfield and Gordon’s low cross was met by Gallagher at the near post.

Gallagher, Garner, Balogun and Gordon were all withdrawn with around 20 minutes to play as Carsley made seven changes and Oliver Skipp, one of those introduced, sent Manchester City midfielder Palmer clear in added time to seal the victory.

England have already secured qualification in June for next summer’s European Under-21 Championship in Romania and Georgia.

The Young Lions won eight of their 10 matches, their only defeat coming against Slovenia in their final game when they had already advanced.