Daily Echo:

Demarai Gray backed Saints star Nathan Redmond to recover from his penalty miss which sent England Under-21s out of Euro 2017.

The Young Lions suffered a gut-wrenching shoot-out defeat to Germany in their semi-final in Tychy last night, losing 4-3 following a 2-2 draw after extra time.

Julian Pollersbeck saved Redmond's penalty after Nadiem Amiri netted to ensure Redmond - Saints' top league marskmanl lasr season  with seven goals - had to score.

Tammy Abraham also missed from the spot and Redmond left the Tychy Stadium in tears, but Gray believes he will hit back.

"He has been great in the changing room. When the lads need waking up, he is the one that does it. We are devastated for him," said the Leicester winger.

"We created some chances and we are so disappointed not to go through. I'll put my arm around his shoulder like he would do for me.

"It's not nice to see what happened to him but we are there for him. I've looked up to him since our days together at Birmingham and he's helped me a lot, even in this tournament when I have been down. He will move on."

Gray netted England's first-half equaliser after Davie Selke had opened the scoring for Germany before Abraham prodded the Young Lions 2-1 ahead.

Felix Platte headed in the equaliser as a weary England hung on for penalties and Lewis Baker, Saints midfielder James Ward-Prowse and Ben Chilwell all scored.

Jordan Pickford saved from Yannick Gerhardt but it was not enough as Germany booked their spot in the final against Spain, who beat Italy 3-1, on Friday.

Boss Aidy Boothroyd praised the character of his side but admitted the Young Lions must continue to practice penalties.

He said: "We are absolutely gutted, it's a mixture of being sick of losing on penalties after going so close but also being very pleased that this is not just one game. A lot of hard work went into this tournament.

"The fact we went down and came back says a lot to me about the character of the players. But obviously we've got to keep practising those penalties.

"A lot of players have given everything. We went behind and came back into the game and I thought it was our day after that backs-to-the-wall performance. I fancied our chances strongly."