Quarter-final round-up: England and Ukraine join Israel, Spain in U21 semis

England completed a 1-0 victory against Portugal and Ukraine rallied from behind to down France 3-2 on Sunday as the victorious duo sealed the last two spots in the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals.

Two-time winners England will face Israel in the last four on Wednesday, while Ukraine can look forward to a meeting with five-time champions Spain.

SUNDAY'S U21 EURO QUARTER-FINALS

England stood firm to set up a last-four rematch with group rivals Israel as they continued their impressive progress. Lee Carsley's side, who won all of their group games 2-0, took a deserved 34th-minute lead from a typically slick move, Noni Madueke feeding Morgan Gibbs-White on the right to cut back for Anthony Gordon to notch his second goal of the finals.

Portugal applied pressure after the break, but Fábio Silva could not poke past James Trafford and substitute Henrique Araújo looped a header onto the crossbar. As a result, England remain the only team yet to concede in the tournament.

Player of the Match: Anthony Gordon (England)

Key fact: England could emulate Spain in 2013, who reached the final with a 100% winning record and no goals conceded before beating Italy 4-2 in the decider.

Georgiy Sudakov scored twice as Ukraine came from behind to stun France and set up a semi-final date with Spain. Rayan Cherki had cleverly fired Les Bleuets into an early lead, but Mykhailo Mudryk – making his first appearance of the tournament – then claimed centre stage. He was brought down in the area by Pierre Kalulu, with Sudakov dispatching the subsequent penalty.

The Ukraine pair combined again for their side's second, with Sudakov latching onto the Chelsea man's brilliant long pass to slide them into a half-time lead. Captain Artem Bondarenko then chipped in a cute third late on to seal the win.

Player of the Match: Georgiy Sudakov (Ukraine)

Key fact: Ukraine secured just their second competitive victory against France at U21 level.

SATURDAY'S U21 EURO QUARTER-FINALS

Israel won the meeting of knockout stage debutants by the finest of margins, with Daniel Peretz denying Giorgi Gagua before Saba Khvadagiani's spot kick struck the post to decide the outcome after 120 absorbing minutes in Tbilisi.

The victors made the brighter start, with all the early chances, but struggled to pair intent with accuracy – a theme of a match in which both goalkeepers shone. Omri Gandelman went closest when his second-half effort hit the woodwork after Giorgi Mamardashvili had initially denied him in front of a U21 EURO record 44,338 fans.

Player of the Match: Daniel Peretz (Israel)

Key fact: Israel are through to only their third UEFA tournament semi-final, with several members of this side also involved 12 months ago at the U19 EURO; the only other instance came back in 1996 with the U16s.

Spain won a quarter-final 2-1 after extra time despite conceding after the 90th minute for the second edition running to overcome a stubborn Switzerland side thanks to a deflected strike from Juan Miranda. Miranda's powerful shot spun into the net off the unfortunate Lewin Blum, wrong-footing Swiss keeper Amir Saipi.

Sergio Gómez, who had the best chance of a cagey first half, broke the deadlock midway through the second period with a crisp first-time finish from Abel Ruiz's lay-off. But Switzerland forced the additional half-hour in added time as Zeki Amdouni converted from close range following Julian Vonmoos' neat hold-up play.

Player of the Match: Sergio Gómez (Spain)

Key fact: Spain equalled Italy's record by claiming their 12th top-four U21 EURO finish. Both have reached 11 semi-finals to go with a top-four finish in 2000, when there was no semi-final round.