It was a comfortable evening for Lee Carsley’s team on the Black Sea. They had a 66 per cent share of possession and didn’t allow an Israeli shot on target until the final five minutes with a comfortable two-goal lead already established. Morgan Gibbs-White and Cole Palmer had scored in either half before Cameron Archer added gloss in the 90th minute.

Man City’s Palmer was preferred to Madueke on the right flank while Colwill continued in the heart of defence. The Chelsea defender couldn’t quite guide his header on target with the Young Lions’ first attempt on six minutes.

England somehow didn’t take the lead either side of the quarter-hour mark. First Emile Smith Rowe had a shot cleared off the line, and then the Arsenal forward saw a second strike brilliantly tipped onto the post by the stand-in Israeli keeper Tomer Tzarfati. The ball remained alive and Gordon was felled, but Morgan Gibbs-White could only pass the resulting penalty wide of the right-hand post.

But the Nottingham Forest man made amends before half-time with a superb header from Palmer’s cross. Against a deep-lying Israel defence it was just the tonic for Carsley’s charges, who were happy to keep the ball until the interval with the Israelis unwilling to press.

England continued to dominate when play restarted, and doubled their lead midway through the second half. A slick move culminated in Gibbs-White slipping in Smith Rowe down the right and his cross was converted at the far post by Palmer. The offside flag was raised but following a lengthy VAR check, the goal was given.

With 12 minutes remaining Madueke replaced Gibbs-White and in that time, Archer thrashed home number three from Palmer’s cutback.

The journey goes on for the Young Lions who are in the Euros final for the first time since 2009, having last won this tournament in 1984.

England will play Spain in Batumi on Saturday after they beat Ukraine, for whom Mudryk played the 90 minutes, 5-1 in the other semi-final.

Spain had started the more threatening but the speed and skill of Mudryk was too hot for their defence to handle in the 13th minute. He raced away down the left, waited for his moment to glide past his full-back before sitting him down and cutting the ball back for Ukraine captain Artem Bondarenko to calmly slot home.

Abel Ruiz equalised for Spain within four minutes, though, and the turnaround was completed shortly afterwards when Oihan Sancet fired home from the edge of the box.

Spain ran away with it after the break with goals from Blanco, Aimar Oroz and Sergio Gomez, and although Mudryk remained a threat setting up a couple of good chances, Spain's control and threat in the final third was too much. They will be a serious challenge to Carsley's England this weekend.