Mark Noble has revealed that England's European Under-21 Championship final defeat by Germany this week was the most painful of his career

Mark Noble has revealed that England's European Under-21 Championship final defeat by Germany this week was the most painful of his career.

Hammers midfielder Noble, who captained the Young Lions in Sweden, had hoped to become the first England skipper in 25 years to lift the trophy.

But Stuart Pearce's side crashed to a humiliating 4-0 defeat that has left Noble feeling devastated.

He said: "Seeing them collect the trophy was one of the worst things I've had to do. I didn't really watch most of it, I couldn't. It was too much. I wanted it to be us up there and not them."

Noble, 22, was a member of the England side that suffered a heartbreaking 13-12 penalty shootout defeat by Holland in the semi-finals of the competition in 2007.

But the Hammers ace admits that England's dismal capitulation in Monday's final ranks as a more painful loss than the side's nail-biting exit two years ago.

"This is harder to take than 2007. As much as we lost that match, it was on a high because we were unlucky and lost on penalties," Noble added.

"I'm just gutted for ourselves and for England. I thought we'd be bringing home the trophy.

"We thought we could go out and win and obviously that

didn't happen.