England reach Under-20s World Cup final after beating Italy

Italy Under 20s 1 England Under 20s 3: Paul Simpson's side will play Venezuela in Sunday's final after an impressive display in Jeonju

Dominic Solanke scored twice, either side of an Ademola Lookman goal, to seal England's place (Getty)

England came from behind to reach their first-ever Under-20 World Cup final in an impressive 3-1 semi-final victory over Italy in Jeonju.

Dominic Solanke scored either side of an Ademola Lookman goal to book the Young Lions’ place in Sunday’s showpiece against Venezuela.

Paul Simpson’s side fell behind after just two minutes following Riccardo Orsolini’s composed finish.

Orsolini opened the scoring after two minutes (Getty)

The Juventus winger, who spent the season on loan at Ascoli, curled in a left-footed effort after a sleepy England defence had failed to react quickly enough to Rolando Mandragora's quick free-kick.

England recovered from the early blow and began to create chances of their own, with opportunities falling to both Lewis Cook and Solanke, but still went in behind at the break.

Simpson’s side re-emerged for the second half and took the game by the scruff of the neck, dominating the play before eventually finding a deserved equaliser in the 66th minute.

Lookman put England ahead with a close-range finish (Getty)

Solanke, Liverpool-bound once his Chelsea contract expires this summer, slotted the ball in after a teasing cross from his future club team-mate Sheyi Ojo was parried by goalkeeper Andrea Zaccagno.

Ojo was at the centre of things again 11 minutes later when England finally made the most of their dominance and took the lead.

Another looping cross from the right winger found its way to the far post, where Lookman was on hand to chest the ball down and tuck his shot past an onrushing Zaccagno.

England will play Venezuela in Sunday's final (Getty)

“We’re delighted to be in it and I’ve said from the first day I am greedy and I want to go and win the final,” Simpson said after the final whistle. “I don’t just want to make the numbers up, I want to go and win it.

“The preparation for the final has begun. I said to the players before we left the pitch ‘enjoy this, but let’s get our heads on the final now’.

“We always thought we had a chance to go to the final. We’ve achieved that, but really we’ve achieved nothing yet because we have to go and win and put our name into the history books of English football.”

England’s first World Cup final of any sort since 1966 will be played at the Suwon World Cup Stadium on Sunday.