England U21 0-1 Switzerland U21: Young Lions lose opening game at Euro U21 finals

England boss Aidy Boothroyd says his side can still reach the quarter-finals of the European Under-21 Championship despite their opening-game defeat by Switzerland.

“We are still in it, we live to fight another day and that’s what we’ll do,” Boothroyd said.

England face Portugal in their second fixture on Sunday (20:00 BST).

They will then meet Croatia in their final Group D match on Wednesday, 31 March (17:00 BST) in the tournament hosted in Slovenia and Hungary.

The knockout phase is scheduled to take place between 31 May-6 June, with the final due to be played in Ljubljana.

And England, who have not advanced past the group stage in four of the last five finals, now have their work cut out to progress, albeit their task is slightly easier than in previous years with the top two from each group going through.

“The format is different so we have more of a chance, we are not out of it yet and we are going to go for it,” Boothroyd added.

“It’s a setback and we don’t moan about it, we get on with it. This is the biggest test and we have to go through a bit of adversity to come through the other side.

“Am I worried about it? No I am not because the team that goes out against Portugal will be a very attacking team and we will see if we can improve.”

In truth a number of refinements will need to be made to address a lack of cutting edge that saw Switzerland enjoy the better chances despite England’s dominance in possession.

England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale saved superbly from Brighton forward Andi Zeqiri following lax play from Ben Godfrey, and another error, this time from Tom Davies, saw Bastien Toma hit the post for Switzerland.

In response England were restricted to few chances of note, with a dipping Davies effort from distance, Lloyd Kelly’s wayward header from a corner and a Callum Hudson-Odoi free-kick all they could muster.