The Batumi Arena in Georgia will be the setting in which Spain will face England today in the final of the European Under-21. La ‘Rojita’ aspires to its sixth European title after beating Ukraine in the semifinals while players like Antonio Blanco, Sergio Gómez, Juan Miranda and Abel Ruiz, along with coach Santi Denia, will seek to complete a triplet of continental trophies after winning it in 2017 ( beating England in the final) and repeat the title in 2019.
That is not the only purpose of Spain. There are also individual challenges such as goalkeeper Arnau Tenas, who will seek to revalue and vindicate himself after Barcelona did not execute the automatic option to renew him for two more seasons. The Barcelona team rethought it. Three days later they showed their willingness to renew him. But the clause had already expired. Now the ball is, never better said, in the Tenas goal.
While reflecting on his future, Tenas stated that he is “leaving his skin” for the national team with performances that revalue him for his future. The goalkeeper who has been at Barça for 13 years has conceded two goals in this European Championship and has signed meritorious performances. “I have a very high assessment of Arnau Tenas, as a footballer and as a person. I have spectacular esteem for him. He should stay. We would like him to continue with us, yes,” coach Xavi Hernández acknowledged.
Against Croatia, in the second game of the group stage, Tenas saved the 1-0 for Spain, and against Ukraine (5-1), despite the win, he had two actions of merit; the first of them in a header from Danylo Sikan in the first half that would have made it 2-2. “In goal I enjoy a lot. I’m going to leave my life and skin for the team and the friendships I have here. The three goalkeepers have made a spectacular group and this performance is thanks to them, ”he commented on his performance against Ukraine, with two saves of merit.
He is not the only goalkeeper who is in the showcase and who has been revalued. England reached the final after winning all the games, without conceding a goal, and intends to win a title for the third time that they have not achieved for almost forty years. The man in charge of keeping a clean sheet during 450 minutes of play is the 20-year-old goalkeeper James Trafford, author of merit saves against Portugal and Israel, which has made his name sound loud to join Burnley from the Manchester City for about 20 million euros.
“We know that England is a great rival. They came into this championship as favorites and have had a very good tournament. It’s nice because our first European final was against England in the under-17 category in 2017 and now we play against them again in a Hopefully we can repeat our performance in that 2017 final, where we managed to win, but for that we will have to play 90 perfect minutes”, warned Abel Ruiz, another ex-Blaugrana currently at SC Braga, who has become the leader of Spain with three goals in the final phase.
In the English team, the scoring magic is provided by a trident led by striker Morgan Gibbs-White for whom Nottingham Forest paid 29.5 million euros to Wolverhampton last summer and who has scored a goal. They accompany him with two goals each Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) and Anthony Gordon (Newcastle).
England, yes, lost left-handed midfielder Jacob Ramsey (Arsenal) due to injury in the quarterfinals against Portugal, a player who was being key. His place could be occupied by the Chelsea player Noni Madueke to try to punish on the wing as Mykhaylo Mudryk did in the first part of the Spain-Ukraine match or Cole Palmer (Manchester City) to reinforce the midfield.
On the other hand, Spain does not have any injured in its ranks and Santi Denia is expected to repeat the eleven that he has put in contention in three of the five European matches, including the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Inglaterra: James Trafford, James Garner, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Levi Colwill, Luke Thomas; Morgan Gibbs-White, Curtis Jones, Angel Gomes, Noni Madueke, Emile Smith Rowe; y Anthony Gordon.
Spain: Arnau Tenas; Víctor Sánchez, Aitor Paredes, Jon Pacheco, Juan Miranda; Antonio Blanco, Alex Baena, Oihan Sancet; Rodri Sánchez, Sergio Gómez and Abel Ruiz.
Referee: Espen Eskas (Norway).
Stadium: Batumi Arena (Batumi, Georgia).
Time: 18:00 CEST (16:00 GMT).
