Ashley Cole sent off as tempers boil over in England vs Spain U21 Euro final

Ashley Cole was sent off as tempers boiled over during England’s European Under-21 Championship final against Spain on Saturday. The ugly scenes were sparked by the Young Lions’ opening goal in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

England and Spain were evenly matched during the first period of the final as they both had chances to open the scoring from set-pieces. But Young Lions fans had to wait until the fourth minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half to see their country break the deadlock as Cole Palmer’s free-kick deflected off Curtis Jones and went into the back of the net.

As the players cooled off during the half time interval, former England under-21s manager Stuart Pearce told Channel 4: “I think Palmer’s made his celebratory run in that direction so whether he actually said something or put an innuendo towards the Spaniards… and then from there all hell let loose really. Both sets of teams, both sets of coaching staff [were] on the pitch.

Ex-Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips then explained: “Emotions are always going to be high and if you know Coley his emotions definitely do go high. Like Stuart said he tried to calm it down and obviously it got taken the wrong way.