Germany beat Italy 3-1 in final

Germany claimed the European U-19 Championship trophy for the first time despite playing more than half the final against Italy on Saturday night with ten men.

Goals from Lars Bender, Richard Sukuta-Pasu and Timo Gebhart secured victory in an eventful decider in Jablonec, Czech Republic.

Germany last tasted success in a youth championship in the U-16 event in 1992, yet Horst Hrubesch's side took a significant step towards ending that long wait when Bender struck midway through the opening period.

Their hopes suffered a seemingly severe setback as captain Florian Jungwirth was dismissed for a second bookable offence seven minutes before half-time having fouled Stefano Okaka Cuka twice in quick succession.

Germany, however, weathered the storm and doubled their advantage a minute past the hour when Sukuta-Pasu drilled in his third goal of the finals.

Italy lost Matteo Gentili to a second yellow card with 20 minutes remaining but still halved the deficit through Silvano Raggio only for Gebhart to restore Germany's two-goal cushion almost immediately and finally end their challenge.

"We were the best team in the tournament," Hrubesch told uefa.com.

"We've won all five matches and deserved to win them all, so we can say that we were the best in the tournament. This was a worthy final, with the drama of the yellow and red cards but my players really fought for the title.

"This victory means a lot for German football. We have done many things to improve youth development. All the Bundesliga clubs have special youth development centres and all those clubs have helped in the preparation for the tournament."

Italy coach Francesco Rocca said: "We played against ten players for a long time but we never really got into the match.

"We've had a good tournament, it's not ended how we wanted it to but it's been a good experience for the players."