UEFA U-21 Euros: Denmark beat Serbia to finish in second place in Group B

Denmark on three points faced Serbia on zero points with the Danes needing a vital win to try and qualify as the best second-placed team in the tournament. Serbia will be all about pride as they try and cause an upset at the end of their tournament.

Serbia kicked off the game that may decide who finishes in second place in the group.

Anders Dreyer created the first real chance. Dreyer received a brilliant pass, but his shot was dragged wide of the goal and wasted a great opportunity of going ahead.

In the 14th minute, Denmark had another great chance when Rasmus Kristensen lofted a pass into the path of Jacob Bruun Larsen with the forward’s shot going well over the bar.

Denmark broke the deadlock in the 21st minute. Joakim Maehle provided Bruun Larsen with a nice pass inside the box which allowed the forward to precisely hit his effort inside the right post.

Serbia had a great chance to equalise before half-time. Nemanja Radonjic fired a brilliant shot at the top left corner with Danish keeper Daniel Iversen making a great diving stop to deny the a definite Serbia goal and received a well deserved ovation from the Danish supporters.

The first-half ended with Denmark having a 1-0 lead and looking confident to finish in second place in Group B. The possession between the two teams were very close with 57%- 43% in Denmark’s favour and the Danes had more attempts to score with six in the first-half.

Denmark kicked off the second-half as they tried to improve on a 1-0 scoreline from the first-half.

Denmark scored in the 51st minute, a ball from a corner slipped into the path of Jacob Rasmussen who fired the ball into the back of the net to double Denmark’s advantage.

Another great chance fell to Andreas Skov Olsen however he fired his shot wide of the left post.

A chance for Serbia, Luka Adzic broke into the box and went over in the box with a clear bad tackle being put in by the Danish defender, but referee Aleksei Kulbakov said no penalty.

Adzic latched onto an excquisitelpass from his teammate and decided to shoot. The effort beat the keeper and cannoned off the crossbar – a good chance for Serbia to make a late comeback into this game.

With the game virtually over, Denmark had one more attempt at goal with Kristensen whose pot shot clipped off the post and out for a goal-kick.

The final whistle blew and Denmark won the game 2-0 and came second in Group B. However, Italy in Group A had a better goal difference and the Danes were sent home after a great tournament. Meanwhile, Serbia finished on zero points in Group A, but gave a good try to trying to dislodge some of Europe’s finest talent.

Team Line-ups

Denmark U-21: Daniel Iversen; Rasmus Nissen Kristensen (c), Asger Sørensen (Jonas Wind 82′), Jacob Rasmussen, Joakim Maehle; Magnus Andersen, Victor Nelsson, Philip Billing; Andreas Skov Olsen (Mikkel Duelund 76′), Jacob Bruun Larsen, Anders Dreyer (Robert Skov 68′).

Serbia U-21: Dragan Rosic; Aleksa Terzic, Srdjan Babic, Erhan Masovic, Miroslav Bogosavac; Lazar Randelovic, Uros Racic, Sasa Lukic (c), Nemanja Radonjic (Luka Adzic 61′); Ivan Saponjic (Dejan Joveljic 81′), Igor Zlatanovic.