A brilliant goal from Arsenal prodigy Ethan Nwaneri was not enough to prevent England U17 being knocked out of the European Championship by Italy.
The 17-year-old gave the Young Lions the lead with a fine curling strike in the opening 15 minutes after a driving run from Tottenham’s Mikey Moore before AC Milan youngster Mattia Liberali equalised with an excellent solo response at the AEK Arena in Larnaca, Cyprus.
Collecting the ball from a throw-in, Liberali danced through a number of England defenders before firing past goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff.
Both Nwaneri and Chelsea youngster Shumaira Mheuka went close in the second half before fellow Blues teenager Ollie Harrison had an effort cleared off the line during the closing stages.
England pushed for a winner after the interval and were also unlucky to have seen an effort from Christopher Rigg expertly saved but Greg Lincoln’s side narrowly missed out on a semi-final berth.
With nothing to split the two sides, the match went to a penalty shootout and Italy goalkeeper Alessandro Longoni denied Harrison, with the Azzurri scoring all five of their spot-kicks.
It means Italy now meet Denmark in the semi-finals of the competition, with Serbia and Portugal on the other side of the draw.
