Liverpool star Curtis Jones, with a bloody nose, was sent off to face Croatian players immediately after England’s U21 European Championship exit was confirmed.

Curtis Jones, with a bloody nose, was shown a red card immediately after England’s heartbreaking exit from the European Under-21 Championship.

The Young Lions beat Croatia 2-1 in their last group stage match, however that was not enough as they needed to win by two goals to reach the knockout stage.

Having lost to Switzerland and Portugal, Aidy Boothroyd’s team had a mountain to climb when they faced Croatia, but they made a perfect start thanks to a quiet penalty from Ebere Eze in the 12th minute.

With Portugal also beating Switzerland, it looked like Jones had scored the goal that would lead England through: the Liverpool star finishing in the corner of the net just shy of the 75-minute mark.

However, it was Croatia who managed to reach the quarter-finals at England’s expense thanks to Domagoj Bradaric’s lightning bolt in the first minute of stoppage time.

England did not have time to regain their two-goal lead and the final whistle set off chaotic scenes as Jones reacted poorly to Croatia’s wild celebrations, leading to a second yellow card for the midfielder.

The 20-year-old faced his opponents, but was taken away by a member of England’s coaching staff.

Eventually, he was taken off the field after trying to face them again. The clash then spread between both groups of players as Jones walked away.

Boothroyd admitted that “emotions got a bit high” while discussing the incident at his post-game press conference.

“I think what happened was that there was a team jumping, all their staff were on the court and celebrating between one or two of our guys and I think it got a little tense and the emotions went up a bit,” he said. reporters.

“I have to get to the end of the card. I haven’t been able to speak to the referee yet, but I’ll find out what happened there.

“I think it’s just one of those very emotional situations where difficult things can happen sometimes, and luckily both groups of staff sorted it out.”

Jones has yet to comment on the incident and chose to tweet about the outcome afterward.

“It’s hard to bear, we live and move on,” he wrote.

The result will raise more questions about Boothroyd’s future, and talkSPORT’s Andy Goldstein will object to claims the former Watford boss made to talkSPORT that coaching the England Under-21 team is “absolutely impossible.”

Goldstein said: “The reason we haven’t won anything for 37 years has nothing to do with it. It’s because of mistakes that someone like Aidy Bootroyd or Aidy Boothroyd has made during those years.

“In 2019, he put Phil Foden on the bench when we crashed in the tournament against Romania. The game before that, Phil Foden was way above everyone on that side and he scored an incredible goal.

Phil Foden, head and shoulders above everyone else in a game we must win to stay in the competition, dropped it.

“That’s why we don’t win because of stupid mistakes, stupid decisions that are made.”