Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones scored his first ever goal for England on his senior debut against Greece in the UEFA Nations League in Athens on Thursday evening.

The 23-year-old, who has been in fine form for the Reds this season, was named in the Three Lions starting XI for the first time by caretaker manager Lee Carsley and helped them to a 3-0 victory.

Jones scored his country’s third goal of the evening with a brilliant effort into the box to add to an Ollie Watkins strike and an Odysseas Vlachodimos own goal.

Making a good impression on his debut, Jones said: “I tried, I tried! The guys around helped me too. I just went there and played freely and had a smile on my face. I loved it and I’m happy to to have left with a purpose too”.

He added: “When you have a team like us, I can go high and I can go down and I can get the ball and I can play.

“There are guys there to help and there are also guys who said I could go (forward) too. Jude (Bellingham) stayed back, so I saw I had a lucky to go there and I was lucky to have scored.”

Victory put England above Greece with a superior head-to-head performance as Carsley prepares to take charge in his final match as caretaker manager against the Republic of Ireland on Sunday.

Speaking about Curtis Jones after the Carsley game said: “Curtis (Jones) is an exceptional player and I’m delighted for him. These players are playing week in, week out in the Premier League. Morgan Rogers has been really good for Villa and maybe could have been in the senior team sooner.

“I think if we want to put these players in a position where we’re going to win the World Cup, these players need to have as much experience as possible, so it wasn’t a slight on Harry. I’m going to start the next game .I think there are a lot of positives to take from this performance.

“We have shown in the past that we have so many quality players. I guess the biggest challenge would be integrating them all and knowing where do they all play. But I think we played with that balance, we” I have so much quality.

“There were a lot of good performances tonight, a really good team effort, and I hope we see the same at Wembley.”