Spanish Style to Shine Through
Spain U21 and Germany U21 will meet in the final of the UEFA European Under 21 tournament on Friday night. The match will be staged at the Stadion Cracovia, Krakow in Poland.
Spain U21 have won the tournament on four previous occasions, including two of the last three. Germany U21 have won the event once and their victory came back in 2009, thanks to a 4-0 win over England in the final.
The Spanish began the 2017 European Under 21 tournament as favourites and have lived up to their billing. Albert Celades’ team finished top of Group B with maximum points from their three games.
Their first match saw a very good 5-0 win over Macedonia, with the impressive Marco Asensio scoring a hattrick. The second match against Portugal was always going to be the most difficult of the group but Spain U21 opened a two-goal lead in the second half. Portugal pulled a goal back but Spain clinched the points with a late third.
With top spot secured ahead of the match with Serbia, Celades took the opportunity to make wholesale changes to his starting XI. Despite selecting a completely different set of players for the match, Spain U21 ran out 1-0 winners, underlining their strength in depth.
In the semi-final, Saul Niguez produced a fantastic performance, scoring a hattrick from midfield to see off the challenge of Italy.
Germany U21 were drawn in Group C alongside Italy, Denmark and Czech Republic. This looked the toughest of three groups on paper and that’s how it proved to be.
However, Germany U21 made no mistake in their first two games, defeating Czech Republic and Denmark, scoring five goals and conceding none in the process. This left the Germans almost assured of qualification to the semi-final but they were disappointing in losing 1-0 to Italy in their final group game.
The defeat saw Germany U21 drop to second place in the group and this set up a meeting with England in the semi-final. Both teams held the lead at one point, with Germany U21 opening the scoring only to fall 2-1 behind. Felix Platte equalised for Stefan Kuntz team and the match went to extra-time and penalties.
As is usually the case when Germany meet England in a penalty shoot-out, it was the German U21’s who held their nerve to book a place in the final.
Spain U21’s have cruised through the final of this competition and must start the match as favourites. The fact Germany U21 were forced to a penalty shoot-out by England, a team with less talent than Spain, also highlights the difference between the two teams.
The Spanish have averaged 3 goals per game in the tournament, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them score a few more in the final. It is worth looking at the over 2.5 goals market, with Spain U21 coming out on top.
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