European and youth Slovakia 21 vs Spain 21: Five-time champion Spain U21 encounters unbeatable at the beginning of the year

The 2025 U21 European Championship will soon open. As the host, Slovak U21 will welcome their first opponent in Bratislava - the five-champion Spanish U21. This opening match is not only the beginning of this tournament, but also the watershed in the fate of the two teams.

For Slovakia, this is their first return to the finals since 2017. As independent countries, they stepped on the stage of the U21 European Championship for the third time. The surprise performance of winning fourth place in 2000 was once high hopes for them. However, they have been waiting for a long 17 years since then before they can return. Unfortunately, in the 2017 event, they still failed to qualify from the group despite winning two of their three games. At that time, only the top spot in the group could ensure advance to the semi-finals, while the current competition system has entered the quarter-finals, and the top two in the group can get the chance to participate in the knockout round.

Slovak U21 knows that facing a group of deaths like Spain, Italy and Romania, there is a long way to go to advance to the quarterfinals. Even more worrying is that Yaroslav Kentosh's side will enter the tournament with a bad record of five wins (2 draws and 3 losses), including a 2-2 friendly match with Slovenia earlier this month. Such an opening undoubtedly casts a shadow on the host.

In sharp contrast to their opponents, the Spanish U21 has a brilliant history in the U21 European Championship, and they have won the championship trophy for this event five times. In 2023, they also approached their sixth championship infinitely, and they passed the hurdles and reached the finals, but eventually lost to England with a slight disadvantage of 0-1.

Now, the Little Red Army is preparing to participate in this event for the fifth consecutive time. They showed their devastating strength in the qualifying round, 9 wins and 1 draw in 10 games, and easily won the top spot in Group B. However, Santi Denia's team is also facing the embarrassing situation of losing to the beginning of the year, with them drawing 1 and losing 2 in three friendly matches in 2025. After a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic, the Spanish U21 lost 1-3 to Germany in the final match of the international match day in March, before losing 0-1 to Ukraine in Friday's warm-up match.

Despite their recent poor record, young Spanish players can draw inspiration from historical data: they have successfully broken out of the group stage in the past six U21 European Championships. In the last two U21 European Championships, the Little Reds made a perfect start, defeating Slovenia 3-0 in 2021, and defeating Romania 3-0 in 2023.

【Lineup Analysis: Who will take the lead? 】

In Slovakia, goalkeeper Lubomier Berko is expected to guard the rostrum, while Yakub Yakubko and Marek Uyraki may partner with the central defender. Almeria's Martin Svedski is expected to start in the midfield, partnering with Mario Sauer and Sebastian Nebira. Meanwhile, Roma Cherepke is expected to lead the front line, and the striker hopes to add new achievements to the three goals of the U21 national team.

As for Spain, they may send a pair of Valencia-made central defenders - Cesar Tarega and Christian Moscra, while Mark Purbier and Gerald Martin should be on the full-back. In the midfield, Xavi Gra, also from Valencia, is expected to start, while Diego Lopez may be on the right. Leeds United's Matteo Joseph is expected to carry the offensive banner in Wednesday's game. He has made 10 appearances and scored 7 goals with the U21 national team, which is quite efficient.

【Predict: Can the host create miracles? 】

As the host, Slovakia has home advantage and enthusiastic support from fans. However, their sluggish performance in recent friendly matches and the pressure from the death group they face have added uncertainty to their promotion path.

In contrast, although the Spanish U21 has poor record in the recent friendly matches, their strong youth talent reserves and rich experience in the European Youth Championship make them still an opponent that cannot be underestimated. Although their players come from different clubs, their tacit understanding and overall coordination skills can often perform miraculously in such competitions.

Considering the strength gap between the two sides and the stability of the Spanish team in the competition, we believe that the Spanish U21 will have the upper hand in this opener.

We predict: Slovakia U21 0-2 Spain U21