Germany U21s confronted by 'distraught' woman and accused of theft before England final

Germany's Under-21 team are due to take on England in Saturday's European Championships final, but their preparations have been disturbed by accusations of stealing beer glasses. The players were confronted by a "distraught" woman over the alleged theft, it has been claimed.

The allegations relate to events after the team's semi-final against France in Kosice. Antonio Di Salvo's squad have denied theft, claiming instead that the glasses must have been removed without their knowledge.

According to Bild (via The Sun), the woman - understood to be a VIP host at the Kosicka Futbalova Arena - was in tears as she stormed Germany's team coach. She is reported to have ignored the attention of stewards and an armed security guard in order to approach the vehicle and attempt to take photos,

“It was all completely different. The woman had brought several beer mugs into the catacombs, presumably for the referees. Then later, empty mugs were there, which were suddenly gone," said the Germany Under-21 press officer, who happens to be named Markus Beer.

“Someone must have thrown them away. She obviously thought our players had simply taken them. But that was definitely not the case.”

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Germany go into this year's final after winning every single one of their matches so far. They beat England 2-1 in the group stages, before needing extra-time to see off Italy in the quarter-finals.

They found things much easier in the semis, going 2-0 up against France inside the opening 15 minutes as Nelson Wieper and Nick Woltemade found the net. Brighton youngster Brajan Gruda rounded off the scoring in second half stoppage-time to complete a handsome victory.

England haven't found things quite as straightforward, but powered through despite only taking four points from their three group games. They beat Spain in the quarters in a repeat of the 2023 final, while a pair of Harvey Elliott goals were enough for a 2-1 victory over the Netherlands in the semis.

"You can speak as much as you want on the pitch, you can say whatever, but at the end of the day when the moment comes and you need to show up, and you need to, for example, in my situation, score a goal," Elliott said after his match-winning brace, pointing to big goals from his Liverpool colleagues Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk during the Reds' title win.

"It's about how you take that, and those opportunities are vital. Today I'm just so happy I was able to contribute and get the two goals to win us the game."

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