Harvey Elliott hopes knee-slide celebration knock will not rule him out of final

England Under-21s hero Harvey Elliott hopes he has not ruined his chances of leading his country to European Championship glory after a goal celebration went wrong.

Elliott scored twice as the Young Lions beat Netherlands 2-1 in the semi-final in Bratislava.

The Liverpool midfielder attempted a knee slide after he opened the scoring just after the hour, but he got stuck in the dry conditions.

He played on through the pain and moved England to one win away from becoming back-to-back champions when scored an 86th-minute winner after Noah Ohio levelled for the Dutch.

“I don’t know what I’ve done to my knee, but it’s bloody hurting,” he told Channel 4. “So hopefully it’s nothing too silly. It’s a silly decision from me, to be honest, but it’s just one of them, live in the moment.

“You do these things, but I forgot the pitch was ridiculously dry and it is the price I have got to pay.”

England will play Germany in the final on Saturday, when they will aim to defend the crown they won two years ago.

“It’s amazing,” Elliott added. “A really tough game, but bloody hell, to win it, it’s incredible.

“I can’t put it words. Another final, I know I keep saying it, but we need to rest, recover and go again, because it’s not over yet.

“Tonight was another amazing experience, really tough conditions once again. But the way the lads dug deep, I think we deserve this final. It’s just about recovering, resting and going again.

“It’s been really tough preparation wise. We had many players that had to drop out because of the Club World Cup, transfers and things like that.

“It’s just one last push and hopefully we can be crowned champions again.”

Boss Lee Carsley, who is aiming to follow in Dave Sexton’s footsteps of winning the tournament twice, declared the victory “outstanding”.

“The team were outstanding. The way we started the game was exciting and disappointing to come in at half-time without scoring,” he told Channel 4.

“Second half we played with real resilience. We stood up and got over the line. We can really look forward to the final.

“Harvey Elliott and Charlie Cresswell didn’t play a lot of minutes in the last campaign. We knew how important they would be – they have taken that on board, the responsibility of driving the rest of the squad.

“Harvey has been outstanding. He is one of many who have stood up. They’re developing as a team and a squad. I think this team is outstanding.”