Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on Liverpool duo Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones after playing a crucial role to help England win this year’s U21 European Championship.
Elliott and Jones both featured in their 1-0 win over Spain in the competition’s final with the latter named Player of the Match – just as he was after his team’s victory over Israel in the quarter-final.
Elliott made five appearances during the competition and scored a sublime solo goal in England’s group-stage win over Germany, while Jones featured in all but one game for England who did not concede a goal throughout the tournament.
Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com: “Congratulations – I texted them, obviously, directly after the game. They were by far the best team. Yes, in the final, how it is against Spain, you can get under pressure [and] they got under pressure
“But a really young group – U21s traditionally are pretty young! – and they did really well, a lot of good performances.
“Yes, Curtis played pretty much each minute of the tournament, one game maybe he didn’t play, but he played a really good tournament in a different role, looked from time to time [like] an adult with kids around him on the other side, he looked really in charge of the things.
“He will play probably a different position and be more offensive orientated and all these kind of things, but a great achievement, a fantastic achievement.
“And Harvey, [he] scored a fantastic goal and when he came on he was a real plus and did a really good job. So, yeah, a big thing.
“What is it, 39 years [since England last won the tournament]? It’s a while ago that England won it, I can’t believe that, but in the moment the generations England have: the U20s, the U21s and the first team not so bad as well, so a good sign. English football is in a good moment, I would say.”
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