Mikey Moore and Callum Olusesi suffered penalty shootout heartbreak with England as the Young Lions were eliminated from the European Under-17 Championship by Italy on Thursday evening.
Mikey set up Ethan Nwaneri’s 16th-minute opener for England with another superb driving run, but Mattia Liberali’s equaliser meant the quarter-final tie ended 1-1 after 90 minutes.
With the game going straight to penalties, Mikey scored England’s first spot-kick, but it was ultimately Italy who escaped with a 5-4 victory to advance to the semi-finals.
It was a bitter blow to the Young Lions, who had piled on the pressure during the second half in search of a winner.
Mikey continued his run of starting every game at the tournament, completing the full match, while Callum came off the bench just before the hour mark.