England beat Spain 1-0 on Saturday in the final played in the city of Batumi and won the European Under-21 Championship, held in Georgia and Romania, for the first time since 1984.
The only goal of the game came in the first half stoppage time (45+4′), when Curtis Jones deflected a direct free kick from his teammate Cole Palmer into the wall, catching the Spanish goalkeeper Arnau Tenas on the back foot and with no chance of reaching the goal. ball.
At the beginning of the second stage the Spainled by coach Santi Denia, had a headed goal by Abel Ruiz disallowed for offside (51′) and after that failed to break through the English defense, which did not concede a single goal in the six matches it played throughout the tournament.
Not even a penalty scored at the end of the match (99′), and confirmed after consultation with VAR, managed to take the title from the hands of the English, commanded by coach Lee Carlsley. Goalkeeper James Trafford of Manchester Citydefended Abel Ruiz’s charge and in the spare returned to avoid the goal.
James Trafford’s 99th minute penalty save to win England the U21 European Championships.
A hero! 🏴👏 pic.twitter.com/nRvkKChLv8
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) July 8, 2023
The ‘Rojita’, which reached the final having secured a place in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, continues to hold, together with Italy, the record for titles in this competition: there are five cups and the last one was won in 2019.
The English team has been going through a good phase in the youth teams in recent years. The England team is under-19 European champions and won the under-17 and under-20 World Cups in 2017.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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