England Under-21s have succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of their Portuguese counterparts in their opening Euro 2015 Group B clash in Uherske Hradiste.
The Young Lions nearly shot themselves in the foot eight minutes in when Liam Moore's attempted clearance almost flew into his own net, but goalkeeper Jack Butland was able to pull off a reaction save and bail out his teammate.
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From the counter, Jesse Lingard marauded forward and found James Ward-Prowse, who fired over, and in the 11th minute Nathan Redmond forced a smart stop from Jose Sa.
England continued to threaten and, in the 22nd minute, Redmond weaved past two opposition defenders and teed up Lingard, who flashed an effort over the bar from long range.
Harry Kane had to wait until the half-hour mark to truly get into the game, but once he did he caused no end of panic in the Portugal box, testing Sa with a long-range strike before smashing the ball into the side-netting from 20 yards out moments later.
Despite England's promising forays into the opposition box, Portugal held their own and ultimately both sides went in at the break without a goal to their name.
Redmond and Ward-Prowse tested the Portuguese goalkeeper once again following the restart, but just before the hour England were undone when Bernardo Silva struck the bar from five yards out and Joao Mario poked home the rebound.
Portugal nearly doubled their tally in the 64th minute when Mario's cross from the right flank was headed over by Ricardo, England having lost their momentum and shape.
Gareth Southgate's charges regrouped in the latter stages and drove forward on a number of occasions, most notably through Kane, Alex Pritchard and Danny Ings, but Portugal held firm to condemn their opponents to a losing start.
Up next for the Young Lions is Sweden, who began their Euro 2015 campaign with a 2-1 win over Italy.
Giuseppe Labellarte
Spain U21s
