Spain will seek the final of the European Under-21 Championship against the winner of the France-Ukraine duel that takes place this Sunday after defeating Switzerland in a match that was decided in extra time. Sergio Gómez (68) and Miranda (103) scored for La Rojita to break the equalizer served by Amdouni in the added time of regulation.
Based on the results in the two pending quarterfinals, this victory could give Spain a place in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The tension of being an elimination match was noticeable in the legs of the players of both teams. Without taking risks and without being able to chain long possessions to dominate the match. Thus, Switzerland started winning the tactical battle against a Spanish team that only managed to find spaces to create danger in the last minutes of the first half.
Abel Ruiz managed to get into the game and create space for his teammates, winning the ball with his back to goal away from the area and taking the two Swiss central defenders out of their comfort zone.
Thus came the great opportunity of the game in the first half, in the 39th minute. A pass into Álex Baena’s space for a Sergio Gómez who stood up alone in front of the goalkeeper Amir Saipi, but his attempt to cross the ball came loose and hit him time to get to defender Nicolas Vouilloz to clear the ball before it slipped into the goal.
Spain under-21 flowed more with the ball just before the break, with Rodri Sánchez leaving flashes of his quality and overflowing from the right wing, but he did not find a goal that took him a long time to find despite the fact that at the beginning of the second half he kept that dominating tonic and looked more for the opposite goal.
Of course, Switzerland was far from showing signs of being the most thrashed team in the group stage -eight goals- and knew how to be ordered at the back and look for quick transitions to try to create danger, but one of them condemned him.
Loss of ball out of the Swiss, Baena once again saw spaces that almost no other player on the field sees and Abel Ruiz once again displayed that facet of more than a striker that makes him even more dangerous far from the areas of auction. He held the ball inside the area, attracted two defenders and waited for the arrival in the second line, taking advantage of the space left by the ‘9’ of a Sergio Gómez who, in the race, defined perfectly from first to make it 1-0 in the minute 68.
Sergio Gómez quickly left to hug his coach, Santi Denia. Together -also with Víctor Gómez, Juan Miranda, Hugo Guillamón, Antonio Blanco and Abel Ruiz- they continue their path towards the triplet, after having won the European sub-17 and sub-19; an achievement that has not been achieved to date and that Spain is two games away from achieving. Of course, with suffering.
When Spain under-21 seemed to have the game under control, Switzerland, in an isolated play in the first minute of added time in the second half, found the tie. Long ball that fell from behind Julian Von Moos, who filtered the ball for the boarding of a Zeki Amdouni who defined with quality against Arnau Tenas.
Switzerland forced overtime in an isolated play in which they took advantage of Spain’s fragility in their centrals, which failed to anticipate. 30 extra minutes of play in which it was difficult for Santi Denia’s men to enter, after the setback of seeing themselves in the semifinals, but he had the luck to finally get through to the semifinals.
While Adri Bernabé, one of the revulsives from the bench, tried to freshen up the offensive game, the goal came from the boots of a Juan Miranda who from the left side is another weapon in attack. Aimar Oroz saw a rise from 3 in the middle of the attack by Spain under-21 and he shot from outside the area, his shot grazed Swiss center-back Lewin Blum and made it impossible for goalkeeper Saipi to stop it.
Minute 103, Spain was ahead again and this time they did not let the advantage slip away.
