• 2 days ago
Curtis Jones has revealed what helped inspire his sensational England debut on Thursday night.

The Liverpool midfielder made his first appearance for the Three Lions as they breezed past Greece 3-0 in their Nations League Group B clash.

Jones helped wrap up the victory with a neat backheel finish in the second half, which capped off a superb display from the central midfielder.

Speaking to ITV Sport afterward, Jones was asked about 'making an impression' on the day, to which he revealed the secret as to what helped his performance.

He said: 'The lads around helped as well. I just went out there and I was playing free! I had a smile on my face, I was enjoying it and I'm happy that I came away with a goal.

'When you've got a team like ours, I can go high, I can come low, I can get on the ball and play - there's lads there to help. Jude stayed back, so I had a chance, and lucky enough I scored'.

"It's a young team, we're all playing well for our clubs, and we're all exciting players who want to get on the ball and be creative! Even when we lost the ball we carried on doing it"

England opened the scoring inside six minutes as Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins smashed home from close range after neat play down the right-hand side.

The Three Lions doubled their lead after the break as Jude Bellingham's long-range effort hit the post before deflecting off the keeper and nestling into the net.

Jones wrapped up the win after providing a neat backheel finish after a pass from Morgan Gibbs-White.

The midfielder has been in stellar form during the campaign for the Reds, having scored once and got one assist from his eight Premier League matches.

During the game, England's stars were targeted by lasers from the Greek crowd during their Nations League clash.

Real Madrid star Bellingham was running through on goal when bright green lasers could be spotted on him, in an apparent bid to put him off.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was also targeted with lasers during the match.

Despite the magnitude of the match, Carsley has opted to start Ollie Watkins up-front, instead of Three Lions captain Kane, and later explained his decision.

He said: 'It was important to give Ollie Watkins the opportunity. To experience a night like this is great for him.

'This team needs to try and create leaders and one way of doing that is giving them an opportunity.

Speaking on Kane, he said; 'He's fine. He wants to play. But his attitude has been fantastic since.

'It's important that we give players a chance and I'm sure Ollie will do well tonight'.

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