'You can do something special, savour every moment'

Jordan Henderson has urged England’s Under-21s to make the most of their opportunity at the UEFA European Championship, which they kick off on Thursday.

The Three Lions midfielder played in two tournaments at U21 level – Denmark 2011 and Israel 2013 – but his side were eliminated at the group stage on both occasions.

Stuart Pearce’s Young Lions for those two competitions featured a total of 19 out of 42 players who have gone on to earn senior international recognition, including Henderson, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling.

And the Liverpool man believes if Gareth Southgate’s team give it everything they have, they can achieve “something special”.

“This is a huge opportunity for them. To win an international tournament at any level is a big achievement, and for the U21s it’s huge,” said Henderson, who turned 25 on Wednesday.

“They’ve got some very good players and look as though they are a good squad, a good team.

“I’ve watched them a few times and they’ve got a lot of character. I’m hoping they can do something special.”

He continued: “It’s a very big tournament, a lot of people watch it, and the best clubs in the world will be out there.

“If you are putting in good performances as a team, and individuals, then people are going to look at that and be interested.

“You’re representing England at an international tournament and with the players we’ve got, we should be winning those tournaments."”

Henderson was upset when his U21s were knocked out of Euro 2013

Henderson made his U21s debut in 2010. He played a total of 27 times for Pearce’s side and scored four goals. 

He earned the first or 22 full international caps at the end of that year.

The former Sunderland player was also skipper at the U21s Finals in 2013 after being crowned the inaugural England Under-21s Player of the Year.

And while things turned sour at the tournament in Israel with England losing all three games, his determination to succeed saw him become a regular with Liverpool and Roy Hodgson’s senior team within a year.

“I enjoyed my time with the U21s and I feel as though I improved a lot working there,” continued Henderson.

“At the time I wasn’t playing as much for Liverpool, so it was good to go away with my country and get some game time.

“For me to play for my country was amazing and then to captaining the team, it was such a great honour.”

Henderson won his 22nd senior cap against Slovenia on Sunday

He revealed: “In terms of tournaments, it was disappointing and is something that I’ll never forget because, with the teams we had, the players, I thought we could have done a lot better – maybe even win the tournaments.

“So that was the difficult thing to take. I think they were missed opportunities as I believed we had a good chance of winning.”

While Henderson and many of his team mates did step up to the senior team after their time at U21 level, for some their international careers have not progressed.

And, though he would love to see as many as possible join up with Hodgson’s squad in the future, Henderson says that Southgate’s players should make the most of their chance at the Finals in Czech Republic, where they face Portugal on Thursday, as well as Sweden and Italy.

Henderson in 2011 with six U21s team-mates who would step up to seniors

“It could be the case for some of these players, as we’ve seen in the past, that this is their final chance with England,” admitted Henderson.

“We really hope it’s not and would love them all to come up and play for the senior team, but sometimes that’s not always the case. So you have to treat every game as your last.

“To be representing England at any level is a huge honour, it’s a fantastic tournament and I’m sure they’ll enjoy it – but I really want us to go out there and do well.”

England begin their Group B campaign against the Portuguese in Uherske Hradiste at 7.45pm on Thursday. Follow our updates here or via Twitter @England, or watch live on BT Sport 1