The teams from Spain and England confirmed their favoritism and today qualified for the Euro2023 under-21 football final, after handily beating Ukraine and Israel 5-1 and 3-0 respectively.
Spain also had a scare in the 13th minute, as Ukraine opened the scoring through Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Artem Bondarenko, highlighted by a superb move to the backline by the team’s star, Mikhailo Mudryk, who was signed by Chelsea in January for more than 70 million euros.
But even before that goal, Spain were already showing signs of taking the initiative and dominating the match, taking four minutes to restore the lead to 17 by Sporting de Braga striker Abel Ruiz, who took advantage of a gross defensive failure by the Ukrainians.
Athletic Bilbao midfielder Oihan Sancet put Spain, which also had Victor Gomez in the ‘eleven’, ahead in the 24th minute.
The Spaniards’ superiority, evident before the break, was accentuated in the second half and materialized in three more goals, in the 54th, 68th and 78th minutes, by António Blanco, Aimar Oroz and Sérgio Gomez respectively, three midfielders who play for Real Madrid , Osasuna and Manchester City.
In the other semi-final, England, Portugal’s ‘executioner’ in the quarter-finals, also reaffirmed their favoritism by categorically defeating Israel, who had played a surprise role in eliminating France, 3-0, still establishing themselves as the ‘luxury’ of missing a penalty in the 17th minute, by Morgan Gibbs-White.
However, the Nottigham Forest player recovered in the 42nd minute to give England the lead on the scoreboard, an advantage the English reinforced with two more goals in the second half, the first by Manchester City midfielder Cole Palmer, and by attacker Cameron Archer of Aston Villa.
The teams from Spain and England thus qualified for the Euro2023 final, which will be played this Saturday from 5 p.m. in the city of Batumi, Georgia.
Spain has five titles in this category and can add the sixth in case of victory, while England have only two and have the opportunity to take their third trophy.
The Spain national team leads the European under-21 titles ranking, along with Italy, both with five, followed by Germany, with three, from the former Soviet Union (present-day Russia), the Netherlands and England, all with two, while the selections from Sweden, France, the former Yugoslavia (today Serbia) and the Czech Republic add up to one.
Source: DN
