How the U21 EURO group stage unfolded

England, Germany, Italy and Spain are through to the U21 EURO semi-finals. UEFA.com explains how the group stage unfolded.

• Semi-finals: England v Germany, Spain v Italy
• Why Germany finished as best runners-up

The semi-finals will both be played on Tuesday 27 June:

England v Germany, Tychy (kick-off 18:00CET)
Spain v Italy, Krakow (kick-off 21:00CET)

England finished as Group A winners©Getty Images

GROUP A

Matchday three results: England 3-0 Poland, Slovakia 3-0 Sweden

• England (7 pts) went into the semi-finals as group winners.

• Slovakia (6 pts) had to wait on the outcome of Saturday's Group C deciders to see if they had done enough to go through as the best runners-up. However, Germany's superior goal difference (+4 to +3) took them into the last four instead.

• The reigning champions, Sweden (2 pts), and the hosts, Poland (1 pt), were knocked out.

GROUP B

Matchday three results: Serbia 0-1 Spain, FYR Macedonia 2-4 Portugal

• Spain (9 pts) went through as group winners after winning all three of their games.

• Portugal (6 pts) beat FYR Macedonia 4-2 on Friday to secure second place but finished with a goal difference of +2 – one fewer than Slovakia – and so could not finish as best runners-up.

• Serbia and FYR Macedonia (1 pt each) ended third and fourth in the section respectively.

How the U21 EURO runners-up ended©UEFA.com

GROUP C

Matchday three results: Czech Republic 2-4 Denmark, Italy 1-0 Germany

• Italy (6 pts) defeated Germany (6 pts) to claim top spot on direct head-to-head.

• Germany finished as the best second-placed team, leapfrogging Group A runners-up Slovakia by virtue of their superior goal difference (+4 to +3).

• Denmark (3 pts) had already been eliminated before their game with the Czech Republic (3 pts) in Tychy. The latter came into the match knowing they could finish top of the group if results went their way. In the end, they were left propping up the section with their Scandinavian opponents overtaking them on head-to-head.