England U21 midfielder Alex Scott has urged his teammates to “replicate what the lads did two years ago” ahead of the Three Lions’ Euro U21 quarter-final clash with Spain on Saturday.
The game in Trnava will be a repeat of the 2023 final – which England won 1-0 – after the Three Lions progressed as Group B runners-up following a 2-1 defeat to rivals Germany on Wednesday evening.
Scott netted his first U21 goal after Lee Carsley’s side had trailed 2-0 at the break courtesy of Ansgar Knauff and Nelson Weiper.
But, despite dominating large spells of the match, the tournament holders could not stage a late comeback and had to settle for second place in the group and a date with a familiar foe in the next round.
Next up: 🇪🇸🆚🏴
It’s Spain on Saturday in Slovakia for a spot in the semi-finals 👊 pic.twitter.com/N3q4sZB50G
— England (@England) June 18, 2025
“We are disappointed with the result,” Scott told Channel 4 after the game. “We didn’t start well enough and that has cost us in the end.
“Thankfully, we have qualified in second so that’s a positive and we’ll look to go in the quarter-finals now.”
Asked how important his goal was in showing a never-say-die attitude, the 21-year-old Bournemouth player said: “Yeah [it was] huge. I think the second-half completely changed.
“We changed the shape and it freed up Macca [James McAtee] as a number 10. We definitely improved and it’s something we can build on now going into the quarter-finals.”
Despite progression to the knockout stages, Carsley’s young Lions have been far from clinical in front of goal in their opening three matches.
Scott, however, insisted the goals would come: “We work on it in training. The lads score goals every day. It’s not quite clicked yet in the games but with the quality we have in this team, it is only a matter of time before the goals start flying in.”
When asked for his thoughts ahead of the last-eight showdown with competition favourites Spain, Scott was forthright in his assessment.
“Replicate what the lads did two years ago,” he added.
“It’s going to be tough. Every Spain team is very good on the ball, very calm and composed. We are going to recover from this and look into Spain and pick them apart.
“Hopefully we can put in a good performance.”
Kick-off for England U21 v Spain U21 is 20:00 (UK time) on Saturday 21 June.
