Germany v Spain facts and stats

Spain take on Germany in the final of the U21 EURO looking to join Italy at the top of the tournament's all-time winners' list.

• With four title triumphs to their name, Spain would equal Italy's total of five with victory in the final in Krakow but Germany have other ideas as they bid to add to the single U21 crown they won in 2009.

Previous meetings

• The teams have met in six competitive fixtures at U21 level, with Spain registering four wins to Germany's one.

• On the two previous occasions the sides met in final tournaments, both times in the group stage, one of them went on to lift the trophy.

• The first encounter came on the opening day of the 2009 finals, a goalless draw in Halmstad, Sweden. Spain bowed out after the group stage; Germany beat England in the final.

• Four years ago the teams were again paired in the group phase, Julen Lopetegui's Spain overcoming Rainer Adrion's Germany with a goal four minutes from time by Álvaro Morata. This time Germany went home after the group while Spain advanced to the final where they beat Italy.

• The line-ups for that game in Netanya, Israel, on 9 June 2013 were:
Germany: Leno, Jantschke, Thesker, Ginter, Sorg, Rudy (Rüdiger 82), Rode (Can 70), Holtby, Herrmann (Lasogga 64), Clemens, Volland.
Spain: De Gea, Bartra, Montoya, Iñigo Martínez, Moreno, Illarramendi, Koke, Isco (Camacho 89), Thiago Alcántara, Rodrigo (Morata 73), Tello (Muniain 85).

• West Germany edged Spain 2-1 on aggregate in a two-legged quarter-final in 1982. Spain won the home leg 1-0 in Tenerife and held the lead until ten minutes from time in Augsburg before goals from Rudi Völler (80) and Pierre Littbarski (89) turned it round for the Germans. West Germany went on to reach the final, losing 5-4 to England over two legs.

• The sides' most recent meeting was a friendly on 4 March 2014 in Palencia, northern Spain. Strikes by Morata (52) and Isco (54) earned the hosts a 2-0 victory. Saúl Ñíguez, Gerard Deulofeu and Kepa Arrizabalaga were all half-time substitutes.

Match background

Germany
• Germany have lifted the European U21 trophy on just one occasion, when they thrashed England 4-0 in the 2009 final in Malmo.

• That was Germany's sole previous final appearance as a unified country; as West Germany they lost to England in the two-legged 1982 final. Meanwhile, East Germany were defeated 5-4 by Yugoslavia in the 1978 final and 1-0 by the Soviet Union in 1980, both also over two legs.

• Germany have appeared in five of the last seven tournaments, yet survived the group stage in only 2009 and 2015 prior to this year.

• They got to the semi-finals as the best of the three section runners-up, having come second behind Italy in Group C after beating the Czech Republic (2-0) and Denmark (3-0) before losing to the Azzurrini (0-1).

• Kuntz's team then outlasted England 4-3 on penalties in the semi-finals, Davie Selke and substitute Felix Platte having scored in a 2-2 draw. In the shoot-out, Julian Pollersbeck saved two England attempts with Yannick Gerhardt missing for Germany; Maximilian Arnold, Maximilian Philipp, Max Meyer and Nadiem Amiri all converted their kicks.

• Captain Niklas Stark, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Levin Öztunali and Selke were in Germany's victorious UEFA European Under-19 Championship side of 2014, all playing 90 minutes in the 1-0 final win against Portugal.

• Substitute Kempf converted a penalty in the shoot-out of the 2012 U17 final but Germany succumbed 5-4 to the Netherlands in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Meyer played all 80 minutes with Marvin Schwäbe and Stark unused replacements.

• Odisseas Vlachodimos was Germany goalkeeper in the 2011 UEFA European U17 Championship final; they lost 5-2 to the Netherlands in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Spain
• Spain's four previous triumphs came in 1986, 1998, 2011 and 2013.

• Their actual final record is W4 L2:
1984: Spain 0-1 England (Seville, Spain); England 2-0 Spain (Sheffield, England) – England win 3-0 on aggregate
1986: Italy 2-1 Spain (Rome, Italy); Spain 2-1 Italy (Valladolid, Spain) – Spain win 3-0 on penalties
1996: Italy 1-1 Spain, 4-2 pens (Barcelona, Spain)
1998: Greece 0-1 Spain (Bucharest, Romania)
2011: Switzerland 0-2 Spain (Aarhus, Denmark)
2013: Italy 2-4 Spain (Jerusalem, Israel)

• Spain made the semi-finals as Group B winners, having recorded three straight victories against FYR Macedonia (5-0), Portugal (3-1) and Serbia (1-0). They then saw off Italy 3-1 to progress to the final for the third time in four editions of the competition.

• Borja Mayoral scored Spain's opener in the 2-0 success over Russia in the 2015 UEFA European U19 Championship final. Marco Asensio, Dani Ceballos, Rodri Hernández, Mikel Merino, Jorge Meré and captain Jesús Vallejo also featured.

• Deulofeu, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Jonny and substitute Denis Suárez were in the Spain team that beat Greece 1-0 in the 2012 U19 final in Tallinn, Estonia.

• Deulofeu had also been in the side that ousted the Czech Republic 3-2 after extra time in the 2011 U19 final in Bucharest, Romania.

• Deulofeu netted Spain's goal in the 2-1 reverse to England in the European U17 Championship final in 2010. Saúl also figured in that match in Vaduz, Liechtenstein.

Coach and player links

• Albert Celades was in the Spain team beaten 3-1 by Germany in their final group game at the 1994 UEFA European U18 Championship – a defeat that cost them a place in the final. More recently, as U16 national coach, his Spain side drew 2-2 with Germany in a friendly in February 2015.

• As a Real Madrid player, Celades won 2-0 at Wisla Kraków’s Miejski Stadium – 1.4km from the Krakow Stadium – in a UEFA Champions League qualifying tie in August 2004.

• As a Barcelona player, Celades won the 1998 UEFA Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund.

• Merino and Mayoral scored in Spain's 3-0 group stage victory over Germany at the 2015 European U19 Championship. Asensio, Ceballos and Hernández also featured for Spain; Lukas Klünter and Nadiem Amiri were in the German team.

• Germany qualified for the 2014 U19 finals – a tournament they would win – by dispatching Spain 3-1 in their last elite round fixture, Selke getting the first goal. Stark, Kempf, Öztunali and Meyer also played; Héctor Bellerín, José Gayà and Sandro Ramírez were involved for Spain.

• Mahmoud Dahoud and Suárez faced each other when Barcelona beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-0 in a UEFA Champions League group stage fixture last December.

• Dahoud and Maximilian Philipp will be team-mates of Merino at Borussia Dortmund next season.

• Serge Gnabry and Bellerín were team-mates at Arsenal from 2012-16.

• Saúl scored to give Atlético Madrid a 1-0 success over Bayern München in the home leg of their 2015/16 UEFA Champions League semi-final.