Today, June 27, the Ukrainian youth team will play a match in the third round of the group stage of Euro-2023 (U-21). We present our opponent—the Spanish team.

Spain U-21

Number of appearances in final tournaments of the European Championship (U-21) — 13. Five-time champion and record holder (1986, 1998, 2011, 2013, 2019).

Squad

Goalkeepers: Arnaud Tenas ("Barcelona"), Julen Agirrezabala ("Athletic"), Leo Roman ("Majorca").

Defenders: Victor Gomez ("Braga", Portugal), Mario Gil ("Lazio", Italy), Arnau Martinez ("Girona"), Juan Miranda ("Sevilla"), Hugo Guillamon ("Valencia"), Aitor Perez ("Athletic"), Jon Pacheco ("Real Sociedad"), Manu Sanchez ("Osasuna").

Midfielders: Adrian Bernabe ("Parma", Italy), Antonio Blanco ("Alaves"), Gabriel Veiga ("Celta"), Alejandro Baena ("Villarreal"), Aimar Oroz ("Osasuna"), Oyan Sanset ("Athletic").

Forwards: Sergio Gomez ("Manchester City", England), Abel Ruiz ("Braga", Portugal), Sergio Camello ("Rayo Vallecano"), Rodrigo Sanchez ("Sevilla"), Rodrigo Riquelme ("Girona"), Ander Barrenetxea ("Real Sociedad").

Head Coach

The Spanish youth team is coached by local specialist Santy Denia. The 49-year-old coach took charge of the team on December 12, 2022. Under his leadership, they have played five matches and won three.

Before this, Denia worked as an assistant to the head coach of Madrid's "Atletico" and was a coach for Spanish youth teams (U-16, U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20). He won Euro 2019 (U-19).

The main tactical formation that Santy Denia prefers is 4-2-3-1.

Leader

Currently, the leader of Spain's U-21 team is forward Abel Ruiz from Portuguese "Braga". The 23-year-old Ruiz has played 23 matches for the Spanish youth team and scored 10 goals.

In the ranks of "Braga," the striker has made 87 appearances and scored 13 goals. He is a winner of the Portuguese Cup (2020/2021). Before that, he played for "Barcelona," with whom he became Spanish champion (2018/2019). Winner of Euro 2019 (U-19). Main position—center forward, additional—left or right winger. Strong foot—right.

The transfer value of Abel Ruiz is €10 million.

Path to Euro 2023 (U-21)

Spanish players qualified for the final stage of Euro 2023 (U-21) by winning the qualifying tournament in Group C. The team won eight matches and secured first place with the maximum number of points.

03.09.2021. Spain — Russia — 4:1 (cancelled)

07.09.2021. Lithuania — Spain — 0:2

08.10.2021. Spain — Slovakia — 3:2

12.10.2021. Spain — Northern Ireland — 3:0

12.11.2021. Malta — Spain — 0:5

16.11.2021. Russia — Spain — 1:0 (cancelled)

25.03.2022. Spain — Lithuania — 8:0

29.03.2022. Slovakia — Spain — 2:3

03.06.2022. Northern Ireland — Spain — 0:6

07.06.2022. Spain — Malta — 7:1

The match between the youth teams of Spain and Ukraine at Euro-2023 (U-21) will take place on June 27 in Bucharest (kickoff—9:45 PM Kyiv time).