2023-06-29 23:25:20
The quarter-finals of the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship will be a replay of the final of the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, as Spain will face Switzerland at the stadium Giulești from Bucharest.
Five-time winners Spain, who have reached the final in four of the last six tournaments, secured a fourth successive appearance in the knockout rounds by beating Ukraine to finish top of Group B, while Switzerland went on to win qualified as Group D runners-up in a three-way battle, despite having lost their last two matches.
While this is Spain’s eighth appearance in the knockout stages since the final tournament was introduced in 1998, it is only the third for the Swiss and the first since losing to Spain in the final. 12 years ago.
Previous meetings
The two teams met in a friendly match in Almería on March 24. Spain won 3-2. Dan Ndoye put Switzerland ahead in the eighth minute, Rodri Sánchez equalized for Spain a minute before half-time, but Kastriot Imeri restored the visitors’ lead from a penalty three minutes after the hour mark game. The Spaniard Rodrigo Riquelme, who came on in the 65th minute, proved decisive by scoring in the 76th and 81st minutes.
A goal from Ander Herrera (41st) and Thiago Alcántara (81st) late in each half saw Spain win 2-0 at the Danish stadium in Aarhus in the Under-21 final years old on June 25, 2011, and to win his third European title at this level. David de Gea, Javi Martínez, Juan Mata and Iker Muniain were also part of the Spain squad managed by Luis Milla, while Yann Sommer, Fabian Frei, Xherdan Shaqiri and Granit Xhaka featured in Pierluigi Tami’s Switzerland squad .
The two sides also met in the 2013 qualifying competition. First-half goals from Muniain (8th), Thiago (26th sp) and Marc Bartra (45th+1) saw Spain win win 3-0 in Cordoba on November 14, 2011.
The second leg in Sion, the last meeting between the two teams before this year’s friendly, ended in a goalless draw. Spain finished top of Group 5 with 22 points, five more than world runners-up Switzerland. Spain beat Denmark 8-1 in the first leg of the play-offs to retain the trophy, while Switzerland lost 4-2 on aggregate to Germany.
Spain qualified for the 2009 finals at the expense of Switzerland in the play-offs, after a 2-1 first-leg defeat in Aarau, where Sergio Busquets scored the visitors’ goal, and a 3-1 victory home in the return, although it took a Sisi goal five minutes into added time to force extra time, where Raúl García delivered the decisive blow in the 112th minute.
Víctor Gómez, Juan Miranda, Hugo Guillamón, Antonio Blanco, Sergio Gómez and Abel Ruiz, along with substitute Aitor Paredes, were part of the Spanish squad coached by Santi Denia that beat Switzerland 2-1 in the qualifying round to the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, with Arnau Tenas an unused substitute. Imeri was the Swiss team captain, along with Ndoye, Jan Kronig and substitutes Julian von Moos and Filip Stojilković.
Abel Ruiz scored Spain’s first goal in a 3-1 win over Switzerland in an under-17 friendly on 1 October 2015.
About the teams
Spain
This is Spain’s fourth consecutive appearance in the knockout stages.
Spain’s record in the U21 quarter-finals is 6 wins, 3 losses. They have been beaten in three of the first five matches but have won the last four, including the last 2-1 after extra time against Croatia in 2021. They have not lost in the Round of 16 since being eliminated by Italy in 1990 (1-3 away, 1-0 at home).
Spain are the second most successful team in the history of the European Under-21 Championship with five titles, tied with Italy. They are taking part in the finals for the 11th time and the 7th time in eight editions, having only missed qualification in 2015 during this period.
La Rojita have been champions in three of the last six tournaments (2011, 2013 and 2019) and reached the semi-finals or better in each of the last three. She has not failed to leave her group since 2009.
Two years ago, the Luis de la Fuente-coached side took seven points to finish top of Group B ahead of Italy, before knocking out Croatia in the quarter-finals and then losing 1-0 against its Portuguese neighbor in the last four.
Spain won all eight of their qualifying matches for the 2023 finals, finishing nine points clear of second-placed Slovakia in Group C. They scored 37 goals and conceded just five. Ruiz was the team’s top scorer with seven goals.
On December 8, 2022, De La Fuente was appointed manager of the Spain national team following the departure of Luis Enrique following the FIFA World Cup and was replaced by Santi Denia.
Santi’s side opened the finals with a 3-0 victory over co-hosts Romania before Ruiz scored after just 20 seconds, the fastest goal in EURO U21 history, to beat the Croatia 1-0 on matchday two. It took a 90th-minute goal from Ruiz to salvage the 2-2 draw against Ukraine in the final Group B game and prevent their opponents from taking top spot at their expense.
Spain won their first two matches before drawing the third under Santi en route to triumph at EURO U17 in 2017.
Spain have won 14 of their last 17 group matches in the Under-21 final tournament. Ukraine is only the second team after Italy to deprive them of victory during this period. The Azzurrini beat them 3-1, as hosts, on Matchday 1 in 2019 and held them 0-0 on Matchday 2 in 2021.
Spain have managed to break out of their group in their last six appearances in the finals (2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023), which is a record in the competition.
Ruiz is one of five players to score two goals at the end of the group stage.
Suisse
This is only their third appearance in the knockout rounds for Switzerland. They lost 2-0 to France in the semi-finals in 2002 before beating Czechia 1-0 after extra time in the last four nine years later, setting up that final loss to Spain.
Switzerland are taking part in their fifth final tournament, and this is only the second time they have appeared in two successive tournaments. Semi-finalist at home in 2002, on their first appearance, they had their most successful campaign in 2011 when, with Sommer in goal, they did not concede a goal until the 2-0 defeat against Spain in the final.
In 2021, Switzerland qualified for the first time in five editions, finishing third in Group D with three points and losing to Croatia on goals scored after both teams and England finished tied with three points.
Prior to this finals, a 1-0 win over England on Matchday 1 of 2021 saw Switzerland claim five wins in their last six finals matches, although they have lost the next two, against Croatia (2-3) and Portugal (0-3). The Swiss have now lost four of their last five games.
The team coached by Mauro Lustrinelli qualified for the 2023 finals as the best runners-up overall, finishing second behind the Netherlands in Group E. Switzerland have won seven of their ten matches, only s losing only away against the group winners (0-2).
Lustrinelli left at the head of Thun on July 1, 2022, replaced two weeks later by Patrick Rahmen.
Amdouni was Switzerland’s top scorer in qualifying with 6 of his 22 goals, while Simon Sohm started all ten matches.
Amdouni also scored for Switzerland’s senior team in their first four UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying matches, five goals in total, including a brace at home to Romania (2-2) on 19 June.
Switzerland opened Group D with a 2-1 win over Norway, in which Ndoye and Imeri both found the net, but losses to Italy (2-3) and France (1 -4) meant that only their superiority in direct confrontations – on the number of goals scored – allowed them to overtake Italy and Norway after the three teams finished tied on three points.
Imeri and Ndoye were the top two scorers in the finals after matchday three, tied with Spaniard Ruiz, England’s Emile Smith Rowe and France’s Bradley Barcola with two goals.
Ndoye has shot 14 times, three times more than any other player in the first three rounds.
We know each other…
Andrián Bernabé and Sohm have been teammates at Parma since 2021.
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