Six of the best face U21 tests

Preparations for the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship step up a gear this week with six of the nations that have qualified for this summer's tournament in friendly action. On Tuesday Germany travel to Cork to take on the Republic of Ireland, England meet Ecuador and Spain play Norway while on Wednesday, tournament hosts Sweden are away to Italy and Serbia travel to Cyprus.

Spanish stars return
Spain face an important test of confidence against Norway at the Estadio Municipal in Cartagena. Having cruised through their qualifying group with a 100 per cent record, Juan Ramón López Caro's charges struggled past Switzerland in a two-legged play-off to reach this summer's finals and a 4-1 friendly loss away to Portugal last November confirmed their vincibility. Sevilla FC midfielder Diego Capel and FC Barcelona's Bojan Krkić both return to bolster the U21 ranks and Valencia CF attacking midfielder Juan Mata is also back having enjoyed a call-up to Vicente del Bosque's squad for the friendly win over Chile in November.

Milner promoted for England
James Milner is the latest member of Stuart Pearce's England squad to progress to the senior set-up with the 23-year-old Aston Villa FC winger in with a chance to win his first full cap against Spain on Wednesday. With U21 regulars Joe Hart and Gabriel Agbonlahor, a Villa team-mate, also promoted, Milner will feel right at home. "The set-up here is very helpful as it's run in a similar way to the Under-21s," said Milner, who has played a national record 40 times at that level. Manchester United FC forward Danny Welbeck, 18, has been drafted in by Pearce for the first time and will look to impress in Milner's place.

Balotelli key for Italy
Italy coach Pierluigi Casiraghi will stick by striker Mario Balotelli despite his lack of match practice with FC Internazionale Milano. The 18-year-old, who scored twice in the second leg of Italy's play-off triumph against Israel last October, has been used sparingly by José Mourinho this season, but Casiraghi said: "He is an important part of this group because in the few games he has played with us, he has performed very well. We don't have many games ahead of the tournament in Sweden and it's important for me to see him on the pitch, for 45 or 90 minutes."

Sweden's added spice
Sweden will field a largely domestic-based side against Italy in Trieste with PSV Eindhoven striker Ola Toivonen and Juventus midfielder Albin Ekdal also expected to feature. The two teams will meet again at this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Sweden on 19 June. "It's an added spice that we play Italy at the finals," said joint Sweden coach Jörgen Lennartsson. "But we must bear in mind that they are in mid-season, while most of us are in our build-up phase."

Heat on Germany
Ahead of the game against Ireland, Germany coach Horst Hrubesch has decided to increase the heat on his youngsters as they look to cement their place in the squad for Sweden, saying: "The boys now have to show they want to go to the finals no matter what." Germany coach Joachim Löw, meanwhile, has told Hrubesch that he will have his pick of all the eligible players for the U21 finals, even though the senior team will be on an Asian tour at a similar time to the championship. "The U21 finals are a higher priority to us than the Asian tour," Löw said.

Serbia start final preparations
Serbia have been drawn with Cyprus in qualifying for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and they will get an early taste of what is to come when the two sides meet in a friendly on Wednesday. Serbia coach Slobodan Krčmarević is without a number of key squad members, but expects a strong showing from his team all the same. "This match will be very important for us, because it is the first in this European Championship year," he said. "We are starting our final preparations and I expect my players to perform at the same level that they will in Sweden. I am without some very important players, either through injury or because they have been called up to the senior team, but either way that gives others the chance to show their worth."