Holland on England Under-21s' return to training

Gareth Southgate’s group met up for the first time since their play-off victory over Croatia last month, as they got to work on the training pitch ahead of Thursday’s game with Portugal.

It was a lighter session under the floodlights to ease the players back into their rhythm following a busy weekend for many of them.

Assistant coach Steve Holland oversaw the session, which was sat out by both Harry Kane and Tom Carroll following their appearances for Spurs and Swansea City in Sunday’s Premier League fixtures whilst Liam Moore will be joining the squad later in the week.

There were two newcomers to the group in the shape of AFC Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson and Fulham goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli, who met their squad mates earlier in the morning.

"The majority of them played on Saturday and some played yesterday, so they [Carroll and Kane] did a recovery," said Chelsea assistant head coach Holland.

"The rest of the group had a very light session to get them up to speed for the main day on Tuesday.

Holland put the squad back into their stride at St. George's Park on Monday

"It was nothing too serious, just some reaction work to get the brain working and quick-thinking and anticipation.

"They’ve all enjoyed it and presented well, so we’re all looking forward to Thursday and what we know will be a good test.

"We have a day less to prepare for the games so we’ll do the bulk of the work on how we plan to defend and how we plan to attack.

"It was good to qualify and now the challenge really is to improve between qualification and the Finals and make a good account of ourselves there.

"We’ve picked some difficult games and that’s been done on purpose, because we will get tested and highlight areas that we need to address ahead of the Finals rather than when we’re in the Finals."

You can watch England Under-21s in action on Thursday evening when they face Portugal at Burnley FC’s Turf Moor.

Tickets cost just £10 for adults and £5 for U16s and can be purchased on the gate or by calling 01282 700003.