10 hours ago
Spain vs England: Lineups and latest updates from Under-21 European Championship quarter-final
Spain were the beaten finalists when England won the Under-21 European Championship three years ago, and the two nations meet again in the quarter-finals of this summer's tournament.
Despite those happy memories, Lee Carsley's team are considered slight underdogs after a group stage that saw England win one, draw one and lose one. The defeat came in the final group game against Germany.
Performances left something to be desired too, with too many attackers wanting to occupy central spaces and the lack of a focal point in the absence of Liam Delap. Carsley has so far played without a recognised centre-forward, preferring Jonathan Rowe to Birmingham City's Jay Stansfield.
'I believe Spain are a top team and anyone who was with us in the last few Euros knows you have to beat all of the top teams,' Carsley said.
'Spain are another team I've got a lot of respect for, the final we had a couple of years ago was so close. It could have gone either way. We scored a fortunate goal and played OK in the game but there's definitely a lot more to come from us if we're going to progress.
'Obviously the most difficult thing is to score a goal and maybe we just need that little bit of luck, we need a scruffy one.
'The main thing is we keep creating the chances, we keep running to the areas, we have that belief that it's going to drop and I think we can do that.'
The youngest player in the Spain squad is pacey Real Betis forward Jesus Rodríguez, who made an appearance from the bench against Chelsea in the Uefa Conference League forward and is well regarded. Valencia defender Cristian Mosquera is a name on the radar of Premier League clubs.
