Harvey Elliott scored a brace as England beat the Netherlands 2-1 to reach the final of the Under-21 Euros, with Germany set to meet them after a 3-0 win over France
Harvey Elliott has paid tribute to Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, crediting the pair with helping him improve as a leader after his match-winning display in England’s 2-1 win over the Netherlands at the Under-21 Euros.
England are the defending champions, having lifted trophy back in 2023 after beating Spain 1-0 in the final, and Elliott is one of just two members of that squad who are part of the current side along with defender Charlie Cresswell.
As a result, Elliott is taking much more responsibility and is now part of the leadership group. And speaking after his brace against the Dutch, the Liverpool star said: “At so many moments throughout the season the likes of Mohamed Salah has had to score important goals, winning goals.
“Towards the end of the season Van Dijk came up and scored a header in the 90th minute. I think things like that, to not give up, to keep going to the final whistle and take these opportunities, I think that’s leadership.
“You can speak as much as you want on the pitch, you can say whatever, but at the end of the day when the moment comes and you need to show up, and you need to, for example, in my situation, score a goal.
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“It’s about how you take that, and those opportunities are vital. Today I’m just so happy I was able to contribute and get the two goals to win us the game.”
And when asked about the prospect of a repeat performance in the final, Elliott added: “Who knows? In the final it could be someone else.
“I just hope I can keep the team spirits high and give the motivation to the team, that it doesn’t have to be me or the attackers, it can be anyone in the team, because we’re all amazing players and we deserve to be here.”
England will meet Germany in the final on Saturday after they beat France 3-0 in their semi-final and Elliott insists the Young Lions have “no fear” heading into the clash. “We all deserve to be here,” Elliott said.
“The squad is incredible in terms of the quality, in terms of how we play football as a team, and the togetherness we have. The moment we have fear within ourselves is the moment it goes wrong. I think now, especially after the Spain game, the fear isn’t there anymore.
“We can take on any team, we can play to the best of our abilities and we go into every game now thinking that we can win because we have the players, we have the squad, and we have the backing from the manager as well. There is no fear, it’s just about us going out and delivering and we’re doing that at the minute.”
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