Among the favourites for the tournament, Aidy Boothroyd’s side beaten by Dan Ndoye’s 78th-minute winner; England struggled to create chances in Euro U21 Championship opener in Slovenia; Aidy Boothroyd’s side face Portugal on Sunday

Gerard Brand

A flat England continued their poor run in the Euro U21 Championship with a 1-0 defeat by Switzerland in their group-stage opener in Slovenia.

Among the favourites for the tournament, Aidy Boothroyd’s side struggled to trouble Switzerland, who grabbed a bizarre but deserved winner 12 minutes from time through Dan Ndoye.

Brighton’s Andi Zeqiri missed a clear chance to put Switzerland ahead early on after Ben Godfrey’s miscued pass, before Zeqiri again headed inches wide later in the half.

England struggled to play out from the back as Tom Davies was caught after the break, only for Bastien Toma to hit the foot of the post from the resulting break, but the Swiss got the winner as Ndoye’s effort deflected off his other foot and over Aaron Ramsdale from the edge of the box (78).

England, who have gone out of the group stage in five of the last six European Championships, now face Portugal on Sunday evening looking to keep their hopes of qualification for May’s knockout phase alive.

Full report to follow…

What’s next? How to follow

You can watch England in the Euro U21 Championship live on Sky Sports Football and watch every other match in the Group Stages live on Sky Sports Football YouTube.

England’s remaining two fixtures will also be blogged live on SkySports.com and the Sky Sports App:

• England U21 vs Portugal U21 – Sunday March 28, 8pm; Stozice Stadium, Ljubljana (Sky Sports Football)
• England U21 vs Croatia U21 – Wednesday March 31, 5pm; Bonifika Stadium, Koper (Sky Sports Football)

https://www.skysports.com/football/england-u21-vs-switzerland-u21/report/442324