Spain and Ukraine’s route to UEFA U21 Euro 2023 semi-finals

The semi-final matches are on 5th July 2023

During the FIFA U-17 World Championship and FIFA U-20 World Cup, South America's dominance has been challenged by Spain's youth growth initiatives. In fact, 20 of the 23-member Spanish team that claimed Euro 2008 came up through the young teams, and the majority of them also experienced success at the juvenile level.

Spain were in Group B alongside Ukraine, Romania, and Croatia, they opened their UEFA U21 Euro 2023 tournament in a statement win as they overcame Romania U21 3-0, but against Croatia, they claimed a 1-0 narrow in and against Ukraine it was a tough game as both sides did not let themselves slip in the game as the match ended 2-2.

They reached the quarter-final and faced Switzerland, after a tough quarterfinal match against the Swiss, Spain won 2-1 after taking the lead before being tied in extra time at the end of regulation. Spain will now get ready to face Ukraine in the semi-final hoping to secure the final berth of UEFA U21 Euro 2023.

Ukraine seal their spot in semi-final of UEFA U21 Euro 2023

Following a remarkable 3-1 victory over France Under 21 at the Cluj Arena, Ukraine Under 21s advanced to the semi-final of the European Championship.

Ukraine were drawn into the same group as Spain and were as dominant as the Spanish, as they commenced their tournament with a 2-0 win over Croatia before seeing off Romania 1-0 and sharing the spoils 2-2 with Spain, which saw them finish second in the group due to goal-difference.

Young Lyon player Rayan Cherki gave Les Bleus the lead after 19 minutes of play, but the match was lost before halftime.

13 minutes afterwards, Heorhiy Sudakov scored from the spot to tie the score and give Ukraine the lead before halftime. He moved deftly into the area and neatly converted beyond Lucas Chevalier of Lille.

Mykhailo Mudryk scored the first goal for Ukraine from the penalty spot and assisted on the third.

Since the groundbreaking coach Valeriy Lobanovskiy's time at Dynamo Kyiv, Ukrainian football has prioritised youth, but they haven't had much success at the Under 21s Euros.

In their first tournament debut in 2006, they did make it to the final, but since then, they've only made it once, placing eighth in 2011.

Following Spain's 2-1 victory against Switzerland on Saturday, Ruslan Rotan's team will take on Spain during the semi-final on Wednesday. Spain is a five-time winner.