The 2023 UEFA Euro Under 21 Championship kicks off on Wednesday night and there’s plenty of action to take you from the tournament being hosted in Romania and Georgia.
It is the 24th edition of the championships, with Spain and England entering the competition as two of the favorites to win.
Sixteen teams will play in the tournament that kicked off earlier tonight in Georgia and we also saw some major setbacks as the home side stunned Portugal to a historic victory in Tbilisi.
Meanwhile, Ukraine also defied the odds of beating Croatia in what was an enthralling game as Belgium and the Netherlands played an end-to-end goalless draw with neither side able to convert their chances.
Mail Sport brings you an overview of all the important events from the opening matches of Group A and Group B.
Saba Sazonov (left) of Georgia celebrate scoring their second goal as they beat Portugal 2-0
It was an epic win for the Crusaders who won on their debut at the tournament after failing to qualify in their last 14 attempts to secure a place at the Euro 21 Championship.
group A
Georgia 2-0 Portugal
The hosts of Euro U21 2023 started their tournament on Wednesday night on the right foot after disrupting chances to beat Portugal 2-0 in the capital.
It was a fairytale championship debut for the Crusaders, who have failed to qualify for the final in all of their last 14 attempts.
Giorgi Gagua broke the deadlock in the 37th minute by sliding the ball past Celton Biai into the net to put the home side ahead.
They would be back again soon after, with Georgiy Tsitaishvili hitting a curling corner that was met by the head of Saba Sazonov who jumped into the air to go home and caught the goalkeeper off guard.
Things went from bad to worse for the Portuguese side in the second half after Tomas Araujo was shown a straight red card, dropping Giorgi Gocholeishvili as the last man on the edge of the box.
Portugal had a number of well-known names in their squad, including Wolves striker Pedro Neto, Arsenal full-back Nuno Tavares who has been plying his trade at Marseille this season and 18-year-old prospect Joao Neves from Benfica.
But despite their quality, they failed to convert their chances, with the young Seleção having the lion’s share of possession, attempts on goal and shots on target.
In fact, they had 17 tries on goal against Georgia’s four, with Neto and Neves both getting chances during the match, but Georgia’s defense survived them.
After that, the Georgians will play against Belgium and Portugal will take on the Netherlands.
Giorgi Gagua (right) broke the deadlock for the Georgians after 19 minutes of play
They went beyond the Portuguese side who failed to convert their chances in the match
Belgium 0-0 Netherlands
Despite being behind, there was a lot of action in this game and both teams failed to convert their chances throughout the game. But a draw may have been a fair result given the end-to-end nature of this affair.
The young Belgian side were awakened early just after kick-off, with Kenneth Taylor hitting the woodwork in the seventh minute of play, dodging a defender before nearly beating the goalkeeper, sending a shot into goal.
The Red Devils bounced back though, with Yorbe Vertessen placing his shot just wide of the goal mouth after a pass from Monaco’s Eliot Matazo on the edge of the penalty area, before finishing off a powerful left-footed strike.
Bayern Munich’s Ryan Gravenberch proved dangerous in the first term, knocking Brian Brobbery, who had arguably the best chance of the first 45 minutes, into the net with a low effort in the hands of Maarten Vandevoordt.
The second half was much the same story, but it was the Belgians who seemed more likely to score with more tries on goal and possession than the Netherlands, but failed to score their chances.
Gravenberch, the captain, was back again to try himself early in the second half, before Brobbery connected nicely with a nicely timed through ball down the left to force a save from the Belgian goalkeeper.
With less than ten minutes remaining, full-time Vandevoordt was called into action several times for the Red Devils, as was Dutch keeper Bart Verbruggen, but thanks to the feline reflexes of both keepers, the game ended in a draw and both sides will cut the points in half.
Ryan Gravenberch (centre) of Bayern Munich played for Holland U21 in their 0-0 draw against the Netherlands
Jurgen Ekkelenkamp from the Netherlands (left) duels with Maxim de Cuyper (right) during the entertaining match
Bart Verbruggen (right) was a standout player in goal for the Netherlands in the match
Group B
Ukraine 2-0 Croatia
Ukraine tops Group B on Wednesday night, following a huge win against Croatia, who reached the quarter-finals in 2021.
It was a heavy defeat for the Blazers who, alongside Spain, would have been favorites to move out of Group B ahead of this game, but now need to win their next two games to have the best chance of qualifying for the knockout . stages out.
But it is the Ukrainians who are in the driver’s seat, after a strong start to the game, as their goalkeeper, Anatolii Trubin, praised his side after the game, saying: ‘It’s a big win for us. It was a tough game with a tough opponent and we did really well. But we don’t have much time to celebrate, because the next game is in a few days.’
Ukraine, meanwhile, are at the wheel of the group after a strong start to the game that saw them stay solid against a well-practiced Croatian midfield, with Oleksii Kashchuk scoring their first goal on 19 minutes.
And it was a superbly executed solo effort from the 22-year-old, who dribbled his way past several defenders to bounce his shot off the inside of the post to score.
Ukraine were without their brightest talent Mykhailo Mudryk tonight, but his side performed well in his absence, fending off the advance of Croatian striker Marko Bulat and Matija Frigan at the end of the first half.
Minutes after the break, Ukraine doubled their lead, with Kaschuk playing an excellent pass to Danylo Sikan who headed past the goalkeeper from close range to score their second.
Danylo Sikan (right) of Ukraine celebrates scoring the second goal in their 2-0 win against Croatia
He rose high to beat several Croatian defenders and met a very clever cross from Oleksii Kashchuk to seal victory for his side
The team celebrated the epic win and now move top of Group B, with a game against Romania later this weekend
Croatia would go on to have 14 tries on goal in the second term, accumulating 63 percent of possession, but failed to get a goal back, as Ukraine won the game.
However, it was a poor start to the championship for Croatia, with their goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski saying: ‘It didn’t go well for us.
“We had our chances, but we didn’t take them like they did with theirs. We came here to do our best and win games, we didn’t do that today.’
Croatia awaits another tough game against Spain in three days, while Ukraine hopes to continue their good form against Romania on Saturday.
Spain 3-0 Romania
Remarkably, Spain has now lost just one of its last 17 games and the tournament favorites started their Euro U21 campaign perfectly with a 3-0 win over Romania in Bucharest on Wednesday night.
They won all eight of their qualifying matches to beat Ukraine just top of the Group B standings on goal difference.
They put on a dominant display tonight, with Manchester City’s Alex Baena, Juan Miranda and Sergio Gomez all scoring to secure victory.
Alex Baena (right) scored the first goal for Spain in their 3-0 win against Romania
Juan Miranda (left) followed not long after with the second to put the Spaniards ahead 2-0
Spain now top Group B as they seek their fourth title in seven years at Euro U21
Rodri, who plays for Real Betis, was arguably the star of the show. He dribbled past Romania’s players several times and caused real problems with his excellent footwork from deep midfield.
However, Spain had to wait until the first half to score their first goal, but could have come close just before half-time, with Abel Ruiz’s shot just wide of the posts.
In any case, they largely dominated the game with 23 attempts on goal against Romania’s five.
They will undoubtedly be a real contender for the Euro 21 championships in the coming weeks as they look to win their third title in six years at the tournament.