ENGLAND U21s 3-2 GERMANY U21s: Young Lions surrender a 2-0 lead against Germany before Jonathan Rowe climbs off the bench to become the hero for Lee Carsley’s side in extra time
Jonathan Rowe stooped to conquer after coming off the bench as Lee Carsley’s Young Lions roared to retain their European Under-21 title.
Rowe, the 22-year-old former Norwich striker who now leads Marseille’s attack, ducked into Tyler Morton’s perfectly-delivered cross to score with his first touch as England’s youngsters dug deep to defeat the old enemy in Bratislava.
England looked to be cruising to victory when Harvey Elliott and Omari Hutchinson put them 2-0 ahead inside 25 blistering minutes.
They then had to call on their huge reserves of character when Germany hit back with two spectacular strikes by Nelson Weiper and Paul Nebel.
Now Carsley has emulated the achievement of Dave Sexton, who won back-to-back Euros with the Under-21s in 1982 and 1984.
England boss Thomas Tuchel was there to see the drama after flying in from the Club World Cup in the United States to watch the nation he has adopted overcome his countrymen.
Germany knocked out Italy and France on their way to the final. In the group stages they beat England 2-1 despite resting a raft of players.
Antonio Di Salvo’s youngsters were unbeaten for 20 matches in a run that stretched back two years.
And in attack they had Nick Woltemade, the 23-year-old who has just scored 17 Bundesliga goals to help Stuttgart qualify for the Champions League to prompt Bayern Munich to pay £43million for his services.
Woltemade scored six goals during Germany’s march and will go home with the Golden Boot as well as a runners-up medal.
England should have been out of sight by half-time. They were so superior that the Germans must have been tempted to ask UEFA to check English birth certificates as Carsley’s lads made it look like men against boys.
England were ahead in the fifth minute. Hutchinson should have scored, but fired too closely to Germany keeper Noah Atubolu.
But when the loose ball landed at the feet of Elliott the Liverpool winger took a touch before ramming his fifth goal of the tournament into the bottom corner with his left foot.
Captain James McAtee flashed a fierce shot across past the far post and looked on in disbelief moments later when he picked out Jay Stansfield at the far post with the goal gaping only for the Birmingham striker to misread his pass.
But England did get the second goal they had been threatening in the 24th minute when McAtee’s pass invited Hutchinson to lash his shot through the legs of Atubolu.
Hutchinson might have scored again after another sweeping move had cut Germany to ribbons but his drive was deflected wide.
And only a smart save from Atubolu prevented McAtee from scoring when he met Hutchinson’s low cross with a first-time finish.
England were so superior that the Germans might have been thinking about asking UEFA to check their birth certificates because it looked like men against boys.
Then the influential Alex Scott was forced off with a knee injury after being wiped out by Germany captain Eric Martel.
Substitute Tyler Morton was still trying to get up to pace when he lost Weiper as Nebel whipped over a cross from the right and the German forward found the top corner with a powerful header that flicked off the fingertips of England keeper James Beadle.
The goal had a galvanising effect on the Germans. McAtee was inches away from restoring England’s two-goal advantage after a dazzling 40-yard run.
But then Nebel was given too much space on the hour when England failed to clear a corner and he found the top corner with a lovely curled finish.
Yet back came England and substitute Brooke Norton-Cuffy might have won it but scuffed a decent chance too close to Atubolu. They had a huge let-off in the fourth minute of injury-time when Nebel’s snap shot deflected off Norton-Cuffy and slapped the crossbar.
Germany substitute Merlin Rohl thought he had conjured up some magic in the dying seconds but his shot crashed off the crossbar.
But it was Carsley who sent on Ethan Nwaneri and Rowe for extra-time – and 90 seconds later came the decisive moment.