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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Darren Wells & Daniel Orme

Ashley Cole sent off during England U21s final vs Spain as tempers flare in furious row

Ashley Cole was sent off during England under-21s' final against Spain in the aftermath of Curtis Jones' winning goal.

England had only just taken the lead in Georgia when Cole Palmer's free-kick was deflected off Jones in the wall past Spain's goalkeeper. Palmer wheeled off in celebration towards the England bench on the touchline.

But the celebrations sparked a row between the two teams which saw Palmer push an opponent and culminated with Cole being shown a red card, along with one of Spain's coaches. A furious Cole marched off down the tunnel and was forced to watch the rest of the match from the stands.

England's Levi Colwill and Spain's Oihan Sancet were also both shown yellow cards for their part in the ensuing melee, though it was unclear why Cole was given his marching orders. He had initially looked as though as he was playing the role of peace keeper but that did nothing to appease the referee.

Cole was followed down the tunnel by a member of the Spain coaching staff, who was also sent off, with a disagreement between the two continuing after the initial incident. Friction had been building from kick-off between both sides, with Spain's Alex Baena and England's Angel Gomes both putting crunching tackles on each other and receiving bookings for their indiscretions.

Palmer was particularly annoyed at being brought down on his route to goal in the lead-up to the free-kick after appealing for Manchester City team-mate Sergio Gomez to be awarded a booking. England had come close to breaking the deadlock prior to that, when Colwill's header came back off the crossbar.

Ashley Cole is sent off during the under-21 final (Getty Images)

Who was your man-of-the-match in England's win over Spain? Share your thoughts in the comments below

Spain then had the ball in the net shortly after the half-time break when captain Abel Ruiz thundered a header past James Trafford in the England net, only to be disallowed an equaliser by the offside flag. The striker continued to be the main threat against England.

He had numerous chances to equalise throughout the second-half but spurned a number of opportunites. The best of those came in the final minute of stoppage time as he was awarded a penalty by VAR following a contentious foul by Colwill.

James Trafford proved to be the hero as he saved the spot-kick and the resultant follow-up to secure victory for England, who also had Morgan Gibbs-White sent off in stoppage time. Despite his sending off, Cole ensured to get fully involved in the celebrations come the full-time whistle and after the Young Lions had lifted the trophy.

It is the first time that England have won the under-21 Euros since 1984, whilst they were also crowned European champions two years earlier but have enjoyed little success since then.

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