Under-21 EURO opening night: Co-hosts Georgia stun Portugal, Ukraine beat Croatia, Spain too good for Romania

Tournament co-hosts Georgia got the UEFA European Under-21 Championship off to a thrilling start with a 2-0 win against Portugal on the opening night. Neighbours Belgium and the Netherlands drew in the other Group A encounter, while Ukraine prevailed 2-0 over Croatia in Group B. Co-hosts Romania lost 3-0 to five-time winners Spain in the day's late kick-off.

Wednesday's results
Georgia 2-0 Portugal
Belgium 0-0 Netherlands
Ukraine 2-0 Croatia
Romania 0-3 Spain

Georgia produced a shock on their group stage debut, scoring with both of their attempts on target to beat Portugal in front of 24,425 fans in Tbilisi. The three-time finalists dominated possession throughout but fell behind when Giorgi Gagua showed strength and composure to control Heorhiy Tsitaishvili's lofted pass before finishing emphatically.

Tsitaishvili provided another assist when Saba Sazonov scored from his corner with a precise header on the stroke of half-time. Substitute Francisco Conceição hit the crossbar during a flurry of chances shortly after the interval for Portugal, who had Tomás Araújo sent off 14 minutes from time.

Player of the Match: André Almeida (Portugal)

Key stat: Georgia became the first opponents in Portugal's last 11 fixtures to keep a clean sheet against the top scorers in qualifying (41 goals).

Both sides struck the woodwork and fashioned a host of chances but were unable to find the breakthrough. The Netherlands' Kenneth Taylor hit a post from close range midway through the first half, before defender Koni De Winter twice cleared off the Belgian goal line with half-time approaching.

The Oranje's Devyne Rensch diverted Hugo Siquet's curling free-kick onto his own bar shortly after the interval, with Dutch keeper Bart Verbruggen, who plays his club football for Anderlecht, denying the lively Loïs Openda and substitute Michel-Ange Balikwisha in spectacular fashion.

Player of the Match: Bart Verbruggen (Netherlands)

Key stat: Verbruggen's showing helped Netherlands to their first clean sheet in 14 UEFA Under-21 EURO tournament matches.

Next Group A games (Saturday): Georgia vs Belgium, Portugal vs Netherlands

Ukraine deservedly took the lead in the first half through a wonderful effort from winger Oleksiy Kashchuk, who danced his way into the box before finishing via a post.

Despite Croatia battling back into the contest, it was 2-0 just after half-time when Kashchuk's fine cross was met by Danylo Sikan, who powered in a header. Croatia had a fine chance to halve the deficit on 61 minutes but Luka Stojković could only hit the bar from close range.

Player of the Match: Olexiy Kashchuk (Ukraine)

Key stat: Croatia had more than double the total attempts of their opponents, 22 shots to Ukraine's ten, yet only three were on target.

Spain made the winning start that was expected of a team who had a perfect qualifying campaign. With right-winger Rodri excelling, the only first-half surprise was that the game remained goalless at the break, Abel Ruiz having put the ball wide of a gaping goal.

They remained patient against deep-lying opponents and with substitute Víctor Gómez making an impact, they eventually broke through with quickfire goals around the hour by Álex Baena and Juan Miranda. With Romania tiring, goalkeeper Mihai Popa did well to thwart Ruiz and Aimar Oroz before he was wrong-footed by Sergio Gómez's deflected late free-kick. Romania will need their excellent fans once more for their next test against Ukraine; Spain are purring already.

Player of the Match: Rodri (Spain)

Key stat: Spain won their opener under current U21 coach Santi Denia on their way to triumphing at the U17 and U19 EUROs in 2017 and 2019 respectively.

Next Group B games (Saturday): Romania vs Ukraine, Spain vs Croatia