Gareth Southgate refuses to criticise England Under-21 players

England Under-21s boss Gareth Southgate has refused to criticise his squad after they exited the European Championships with a 3-1 defeat to Italy on Wednesday evening.

Nathan Redmond pulled back a late consolation for the Young Lions, but a disappointing result sees them miss out on the final four alongside the Italians.

However, Southgate declined the chance to condemn the players' display at Ander Stadium and claimed that they delivered the "desired performance".

"I think in many aspects we got a desired performance. We moved the ball and created chances," he told BT Sport.

"We were good between the boxes, but we let poor goals in and didn't take the chances we had. I can't be critical of the effort. They've been a tremendous group to work with and they're all hurting."

Elsewhere in the group, Portugal and Sweden played out a 1-1 draw to secure their respective places in the final four.

Sweden will meet fellow Scandinavians Denmark, while the Portuguese play Germany.