England U21 3-0 Israel U21: Young Lions reach their first Euro final since 2009

There might actually come a point when England concede a goal at this tournament. That would be quite something. Only one game to left to see.

History beckons for the Under 21s. Lee Carsley has already rewritten what it is to be a Premier League footballer wearing Three Lions at the European Championship and there is just Saturday to go now.

This team are so sure of themselves. Danger of them not disposing of Israel barely existed. Assured, their latest opponents were eased out of the way, with Cole Palmer – a squad man for the majority of this Euros – scoring and assisting twice. The depth England possess is only rivalled by France and they have already gone home.

To put the evening into context, James Trafford didn’t touch the ball from open play until the 39th minute. He had one bit of real goalkeeping to do – superbly saving a late header right on his line with the game already won. Burnley will not have learnt much.

England have scared teams in Georgia for the past fortnight. Israel let Carsley’s central defenders have possession unchallenged for lengthy periods, much to the annoyance of those supporting Guy Luzon’s side.

Levi Colwill in particular had no qualms in just walking about until somebody bothered engaging. Come on, have a go. They rarely did. England were jeered off at half-time in what felt like a hostile away game, with even some Israel journalists partaking in a boo or three.

Morgan Gibbs-White had earned them a lead by that point, a deft header over stand-in goalkeeper Tomer Tzarfati, ghosting between defenders in a move of pure timing to meet Palmer’s inventive flighted cross three minutes before the break.

The Nottingham Forest man redeemed himself then, earlier spurning a penalty by somehow placing half-a-yard wide. Anthony Gordon won that, a three-minute VAR determining that he hadn’t bought it, after Emile Smith Rowe wasted two golden chances in the same sequence.

Luzon, not averse to whipping up their support, retrieved a blue flare chucked on in celebration, while Gibbs-White happily shushed one corner when he had his goal in some silent retaliation. It was that kind of night.

And maybe England need that. They have not had everything their own way during this tournament, and had to dig in against Portugal to progress this far, but there had not been that needle and a requirement to stand up for themselves in quite this manner.

Do that with the quality at Carsley’s disposal and you’ve always got a chance. The path to Saturday’s final cleared three minutes after the hour and involved a nice embrace that told much about this group of players.

Palmer had himself a goal, a deserved reward for endeavour on the wing, and the beauty of the build-up smacked Israel across the head. Gibbs-White and Smith Rowe exchanged a couple of one-twos at serious speed before the latter aimed at the back post. Palmer calmly slid in, caressing back to where it came from, and then had to wait an age for VAR to overturn an offside call.

Once that came back positively from an England perspective, Palmer motioned to the bench. Noni Madueke, who he had surprisingly replaced for this one, was waiting for the Manchester City forward. The pair enjoyed that together. Truthfully, that would not have happened in previous Under-21 squads.

Time for one more in stoppage time. Substitute Cameron Archer sent Palmer towards the byline and rammed the cutback down the middle.