Young Spain qualified for the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championship on Monday evening. In the Slovenian Maribor, the team of national coach Luis de la Fuente only settled with Young Croatia after extension: 2-1. Javi Puado seemed to give his team a win in regular time, but deep into injury time, Luka Ivanusec leveled the score. In the second half of extra time, Puado gave Young Spain the overall victory with his second of the evening. In the semi-final battle, the winner of the game between Young Portugal and Young Italy will be found.
From the first whistle, it was mainly the Spaniards who sought the attack, but many imposed opportunities were not noted in the first act. Fran Beltrán did, however, contribute from close range from the rebound after a ricochet shot from Adrià Pedrosa. However, the midfielder of Celta de Vigo shot high over. Croatia came close to scoring the opening goal halfway through the first half. After a quick counter Bosko Sutalo cut two men and handed the ball to Domagoj Bradaric, who saw his shot narrowly blocked by Óscar Mingueza.
Mingueza showed himself offensively a few minutes later. The Barcelona defender delivered a cross at the far post, where Fer Niño was standing to slide in but missed the goal by a hair. After the tea the best opportunities arose for Young Spain. First it was Niño who, face to face with goalkeeper Adrian Semper, failed to finish, after which Bryan Gil was also too late to score the 1-0 from the rebound. After more than an hour of play, Puado also fired on the hostile goal from close range; however, it was again Semper who brought salvation.
The outstanding Croatian final post capitulated in the 66th minute. It was Gil who cut in from the left flank and delivered a tailor-made pass to Puado. The Espanyol striker was sharp and tapped in at the first post: 1-0. Yeremi Pino had two opportunities to score the deciding five minutes before the end of regular playing time. First, however, he shot in an incomprehensible way at the height of the five-meter line, and then Semper stood in the way of a goal by the wing attacker of Villarreal.
It would be expensive misses, because Croatia equalized in the 93rd minute. Hugo Guillamón committed a foul on Stipe Biuk within the box, after which referee Giorgi Kruashvili pointed to the spot. Ivanusec sent goalkeeper Álvaro Fernández into the wrong corner and dragged an extension out of the fire: 1-1. In the extension, Young Spain tightened the thumbscrews further and Croatia was no longer offered a chance to get rid of the sixteen. In minute 111 the liberating 2-1 was found. It was again Puado who was effective; this time at the behest of substitute Marc Cucurella.
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