England Under-21s face arch-rivals Germany later this afternoon in Poland's Stadion Miejski Tychy for a place in the final of Euro 2017.

It's the first time the Young Lions have reached the last four of the competition since 2009, where they finished as runners-up to the Germans.

And eight years ago, the side experienced a 4-0 thrashing to a German side which included a number of players who would go on to win the 2014 World Cup.

Stuart Pearce 's men included Micah Richards , Kieran Gibbs, Mark Noble, James Milner and Theo Walcott who lined up against Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil.

Huddersfield Town's Christopher Schindler celebrates promotion to the Premier League with Martin Cranie.
Huddersfield Town's Christopher Schindler celebrates promotion to the Premier League with Martin Cranie.

But of more interest to Huddersfield Town fans is the fact the club's very own Martin Cranie lined up at right-back for England in the Malmo final.

Playing for Portsmouth at the time, Cranie actually started his international career with Scotland before committing his future to England from Under-17 level onwards.

The full-back played the majority of the 2009 tournament at right-back with Nedum Onuoha and captain Steven Taylor the preferred central defensive pairings.

Cranie also scored his first Under-21 goal in the 3-3 draw against Sweden in the semi-finals, finishing off Milner's inswinging corner barely a minute after kick-off with the young England Lions eventually progressing to the final via a penalty shoot-out.

After the tournament, Cranie left Premier League side Portsmouth for Coventry City in a £500,000 move before joining Town via Barnsley in 2015.

Can the current generation emulate the Town man's success? The game kicks-off at 5pm and will be shown live on Sky Sports 1.