England 3-0 Ivory Coast: international football friendly – live reaction!

LIVE – Updated at 22:07

Minute-by-minute report: England and Ivory Coast meet for the first time in their footballing histories. Join Simon Burnton for updates.

Also from Grealish, as he’s asked to assess his current position with Manchester City at the top of the league and fighting for a treble, and a World Cup to look forward to: “It’s a brilliant time to be in my shoes.”

Here’s David Hytner’s match report from Wembley:

It was a night when Gareth Southgate shuffled his pack extensively and asked whether a number of players on the fringes of his England team could cope with the weight of the shirt. By full time, with Ivory Coast demoralised and dismantled, the manager had an emphatic answer.

From first to last, this was a procession, the visitors seemingly wanting to be elsewhere – ideally the playoffs for Africa’s five World Cup spots which were going on without them. The Elephants had said goodbye when they finished second to Cameroon at the group phase of qualification.

Their captain, Serge Aurier, gave England a helping hand when he was sent off in the 40th minute for a second yellow card, which appeared to be for dissent. It was such a strange moment, out of keeping with the tone of the friendly, and it sounded the death knell for it as a contest.

Much more here:

Related: Raheem Sterling leads England to easy victory over 10-man Ivory Coast

Jack Grealish reveals he desperately tried to prevent Serge Aurier’s sending-off: “It’s a friendly. You learn more from playing 11 men, and it would be more challenging for us. I said to the ref, ‘Let him stay on.’”

I think we can forget the second half, in which very little happened beyond lots of substitutions until Tyrone Mings turned in a stoppage-time goal with, it