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In the final game of Group A, Poland faced Spain with Poland being one step away from getting to the semi-finals where as, Spain needed the win to possibly qualify for the semi-finals as the best runner-up.
Poland kicked off the final game for both teams in Group A.
The first five minutes saw a mix of play with Spain opting to try to attack the Polish defence but Poland were happy to sit back and attack through countering.
Spain had the first chance to score through Dani Olmo. Great build-up play from Spain with neat passes by Pablo Fornals and Dani Ceballos with the latter crossing it into Olmo. But his shot found the side netting.
In the eighth minute, Fabian Ruiz had a chance to score but he dragged his curling shot wide and over the bar.
Two minutes later, Poland had their first shot at the Spain goal. After some confusion in the box, the ball was cleared as far as Patryk Dziczek who took the shot on but his effort was weak and easily saved by Antonio Sivera.
Spain had another great chance to score in the 13th minute. After an Mikel Oyarzabeal corner, the ball was picked up by Ceballos who passed the ball to Aaron Martin who played the ball back to the Spanish midfielder. Ceballos ran to the by-line and crossed the ball into Jorge Mere who connected with the cross but was blocked and cleared.
Not long after, another great chance fell for the Spaniards with Ruiz chesting the ball down from a clearance and his effort was denied by the bar.
Spain opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Aaron Martin showed great vision to find Fornals with a great pass into the box with the forward’s first-time effort which sailed into the middle of the net and passed Polish goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
In the 24th minute, some great build-up play from Poland saw Adam Buksa take on a shot but his strike was weak and straight at the Spanish keeper.
A minute later, Spain went up the other end with Ceballos who beat his marker well and unleashed a thunderbolt from the edge of the area which forced Grabara to make a phenomenal save.
In the 35th minute, Ruiz hit the bar again from a wonderful strike that was cleared by Poland.
Seconds later, Spain doubled their lead. A beautiful through ball from Ceballos found Oyarzabal and slotted the ball past Grabara and into the back of the net to make it 2-0 for Spain.
Spain made it 3-0 in the 39th minute. Fabian Ruiz had a perfect curling shot from the edge of the area that curled past Grabara and into the back of net.
The referee blew for half-time. Poland have been outplayed in every aspect of their game their five at the back formation back fired and Spain have exploited the weaker areas and scored 3 goals.
Spain kicked off the second-half as they looked to dominate the second-half just like they did the first.
In the 49th minute, Grabara was forced to make two great saves. First denying Ceballos’ curling effort and the second denying Marc Roca’s low strike.
Minutes later, a pass from Aaron Martin into Fornals saw his curling effort go wide of the post of Grabara’s goal.
On the hour mark, after another great attack a pass from Ceballos into Fornals saw the latter’s shot being weak and straight at Grabara.
A great chance for Spain to make it 4-0. A great delivery from Martin into Fornals saw his shot go wide.
In the 67th minute, Spain had another great chance to make the score higher for Spain. Olmo ran past the Polish central defenders and saw his shot hit the side netting.
Another opportunity fell for Fabian Ruiz. A mess outside the area saw Ruiz scoop the ball past the Polish players and hit his shot with Grabara making another fantastic save.
Dani Ceballos made it 4-0 for Spain. A free-kick from outside the area saw Ceballos curl the ball into the top left corner.
Borja Mayoral then grabbed one in the dying embers to put the cherry on a terrific display for the Spaniards.
The last 15 minutes were uneventful with Spain having a few more shots at Poland’s goal and keeping all of the possession with Poland not able to respond to it and seemed to lack the desire any sort of desire to score. The 5-0 victory ensures Spain qualifies for the semi-finals and Poland are cruelly knocked out from the tournament.
Team Line-ups
Spain U-21: Antonio Sivera; Martín Aguirregabiria, Unai Núnez, Jorge Mere (c), Aarón Martin Caricol; Fabián Ruiz Peña (Mikel Merino 75′), Marc Roca; Dani Olmo, Daniel Ceballos (Manu Vallejo 88′), Pablo Fornals; Mikel Oyarzabal (Borja Mayoral 59′).
Poland U-21: 1Kamil Grabara; 20Robert Gumny, 21Karol Fila (Jakub Piotrowski 46′), 4Mateusz Wieteska, 6Krystian Bielik, 3Kamil Pestka; 23Konrad Michalak, 16Patryk Dziczek, 7Szymon Zurkowski (c) (Przemyslaw Placheta 71′), 10Sebastian Szymanski; 14Adam Buksa (Karol Swiderski 55′).
