Spain's under-21s fall at final hurdle as England are crowned European football champions

England are under-21 European football champions after a dramatic and tightly contested final with Spain on Saturday afternoon.

Curtis Jones's fortuitous goal just before half time and a late penalty save from James Trafford ensured the Young Lions' first victory in the tournament since 1984.

In a game where tensions ran high, England started the game the stronger of the two teams and could have been two goals up in the opening five minutes if Anthony Gordon and Morgan Gibbs-White had taken their chances.

However, Spain slowly started to grow into the game and long-range efforts from Álex Baena and Rodri sent Trafford scrambling but didn't trouble the goal.

Just before the break, England pushed for the opener. Carlton Palmer kept Arnau Tenas on his toes with a stinging shot, before Levi Colwill headed against the post from close range.

Deep into stoppage time, after Palmer was floored on the edge of the area by clubmate Sergi Gómez, the Manchester City man smashed the freekick goalward before it flicked up off the back of Liverpool's Curtis Jones to wrongfoot Arnau and give England the lead.

Spain looked to get their way back into the game quickly in the second half and thought they had levelled the scores when Abel Ruiz headed in Sergio Gómez's freekick from the left. However, the VAR check concluded the Sporting Braga man was offside.

Coach Santi Denia then made a number of changes that kept his side on the front foot and keeper Trafford on his toes.

Luckily for England, the Manchester City man, who hadn't conceded all tournament, proved himself to be a safe pair of hands throughout the final half an hour.

And when Colwill was belatedly punished for a foul on Ruiz after a VAR check in stoppage time, Trafford's time to shine arrived. Not only did he dive low to his right to block the forward's penalty, he got up quickly to stop the rebound with his outstretched foot, too, to gift England the victory.