England U21 boss Carsley plays down ‘underdog’ tag ahead of facing Spain in Euros quarter-final | OneFootball

England Under-21 head coach Lee Carsley says that he does not feel that his side are the “underdogs” ahead of their quarter-final clash with Spain.

The Young Lions finished second in their group after beating Czechia, but drawing with Slovenia and losing to Germany, while La Roja topped theirs, winning two and drawing one.

The quarter-final is a repeat of the 2023 final, in which England emerged victorious, courtesy of Curtis Jones’ strike and James Trafford’s late penalty save.

“I don’t feel like an underdog. I think there’s a massive expectancy against Spain that we can perform and that’s all we need to do,” Carsley said.

“If we can perform and play to our ability, we’ve got a great chance of winning the game. I believe that Spain are a top team and you have to beat all of the top teams and Spain are another team that we’ve got a lot of respect for.

“The final we had a couple of years ago was so close. It could have gone either way, we scored a fortunate goal and played okay in the game, but there’s definitely a lot more to come from us if we’re going to progress.”

Carsley has faced criticism for only naming one recognised centre-forward in the squad in Birmingham City’s Jay Stansfield after Liam Delap dropped out, but Stansfield has only started one of the three group-stage games.

The Young Lions have played in a 4-2-2-2 formation, with the likes of Jonathan Rowe and Omari Hutchinson playing in the more advanced forward roles.

“I know I’ve spoken about this before, but I try to get away from positions too much,” he said. “At one point the other night, I think we had five attackers on the pitch, so that’s more important. The amount of chances we’re creating is a real positive.

“I think the most difficult thing is to score a goal and maybe we just need a little bit of luck. We need maybe a scruffy one. I think the main thing is that we keep creating the chances, we keep running to the areas. We have the belief that it’s going to drop and I think we can do that.”

However, Carsley is also aware that his side will have to match Spain’s physicality and fitness levels to progress to the semi-final.

Santi Denia’s side have scored three of their six goals between the 80th minute and full-time, including an injury-time winner against Slovakia.

“If we’re going to control the game, we need players that are capable of taking the ball but also running. We almost want the best of both worlds. At a minimum, we have to manage and match Spain’s intensity and physicality and then impose our own style on them,” Carsley said.