France Under-21s 3 England Under-21s 2: Celtic’s Moussa Dembele stars as England’s long unbeaten run

ENGLAND UNDER-21s were downed by a clinical display from Celtic star Moussa Dembele as they crashed to a 3-2 defeat against France.

Duncan Watmore had given the visitors the lead in Paris before the French hotshot burst into action to turn the scoreline on its head.

Chelsea man Lewis Baker appeared to have earned a draw when he levelled inside the last ten minutes, but a fantastic strike from Wylan Cyprien inflicted a first defeat in 16 games for England.

Keep up to date with ALL the PREMIER LEAGUE news, gossip, transfers and goals on our club page plus fixtures, results and live match commentary

There were only nine minutes on the clock when the visitors took the lead.

Sunderland forward Watmore collected the ball from Lewis Baker just over half way and burst through two defenders to go clear on goal.

Instead of racing closer to the net however, the confident youngster spotted the goalkeeper off his line and sublimely chipped the stopper from 30 yards out.

The celebrations did not last long though as the lead only lasted for ten minutes.

Yann Bodiger slipped a defence splitting pass for the Celtic hitman to race onto, and he took one touch to move the ball to the right of the area before rifling a fierce drive into the top corner.

Dembele thought he should have had a penalty just after the half hour mark. He brilliantly controlled a ball with his back to goal around six yards out. He bullied his way past Arsenal’s Rob Holding but fell to the floor just as he span to shoot, claiming the defender had pulled him down.

It remained level at the break, but Dembele had the first opportunity of the second period when he blasted wide after meeting a knock down on the edge of the area inside two minutes.

Tammy Abraham, usually so clinical in front of goal, then headed a cross into the ground that was easily collected by the goalkeeper as Aidy Bothroyd’s men began to get the upper hand.

But just as it looked like they would press on to win the game, Dembele struck again. The former Fulham man strode forward to curl a free-kick from 25 yards into the top corner on 65 minutes.

Baker then looked to have rescued a draw for England with a fine free-kick on 81 minutes but that was not to be the end of the set-piece magic.

Just 120 seconds later the winner arrived in spectacular fashion. Nice midfielder Wylan Cyprien curled home the winner from 25 yards out on the left to seal the victory.

It was the first loss the Young Lions have suffered since they were defeat by Italy at last year’s European Championship.

They will discover their opponents for next summer’s Euros when the draw is made for the tournament in Poland in two weeks.