Academy Quartet bow out of Euros Finals

All four of our players involved in the Under-17 European Championship Finals saw their journeys come to an end at the conclusion of the group stage this week.

A tough draw for hosts Albania, who had Leon Myrtaj amongst their ranks, saw them finish bottom of Group A, suffering defeats in each of their three fixtures in their first appearance at the tournament.

Malachi Hardy, Jun'ai Byfield and Luca Williams-Barnett were all called up to represent England, but narrowly missed out on a spot in the knockouts on goal difference.

The Young Lions were 4-0 up at half-time against the Czechia on the final matchday - a scoreline that would've been enough to see them through, however two second-half strikes, including one in the 89th minute, from their opponents saw them knocked out by just a single goal.

Myrtaj came on as a second-half substitute for Albania in the tournament's curtain raiser, completing 23 minutes in a tough 4-0 defeat to Portugal, before picking up eight further minutes during a defeat to Germany via the same scoreline.

That result effectively eliminated the Kuqezinjtë from the competition, with the 17-year-old completing a 10-minute cameo in their final fixture against France, which also saw them defeated via a 4-0 scoreline.

Jun'ai Byfield started and completed the 90 for the Young Lions in their opening game, a 1-1 draw with Belgium, Luca Williams-Barnett came on in the 84th minute whilst Malachi Hardy was an unused substitute.

Both Byfield and Hardy then started as Neil Ryan's side came from behind to peg Italy back twice but went on to lose 4-2 in their second group game, with Williams-Barnett an unused sub.

That set up a must-win game against Czechia to progress, with Hardy starting at right-back and completing the 90, whilst Williams-Barnett and Byfield completed 29 and four minutes respectively from the bench.

France and Belgium progressed and will face off in the first semi-final, before Italy and Portugal contest the second, with the winners facing off in the final in Tirana on Sunday, 1 June.