ROME - Italy’s Under-21 football team have been eliminated from the European Championships despite a comfortable 3-1 victory over England at the Ander stadium in the Czech Republic on Wednesday evening.

  With both teams needing points to progress, there was a lot at stake for the youth outfits of two of the largest footballing nations in the world.

  Italy started with intent stealing a two goal advantage just before the half-hour mark in as many minutes thanks to sloppy defending and goals from striker Andrea Belotti, 21, and Torino midfielder Marco Benassi, 20.

  Despite knowing a draw would most likely be enough to progress, Gareth Southgate’s Young Lions looked abject and devoid of motivation as Italy added a third on seventy minutes with an excellent header from Benassi who doubled his tally.

  Nathan Redmond’s last-minute consolation did little to excuse the performance as England exit at the group stages of the Under-21 European Championships for a third successive tournament.

  Despite the result, the Italian outfit that showed such promise on Wednesday also failed to progress in the tournament having failed to win either of the two previous fixtures whilst on the night Sweden’s Under-21s and Portugal shared a 1-1 draw.

  Meanwhile, England’s exit and disappointing recent record at this level echoes comments made by ex-QPR manager Harry Redknapp who stated in an interview that England’s youth ‘think they’ve made it’ and ‘must work harder’ whilst questions will be asked as to why senior players such as Raheem Sterling, Ross Barkley, Luke Shaw and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were not present in the Czech Republic.