2023 Under-21 EURO: Unblemished England end 39-year wait

England 1-0 Spain
(Jones 45+4)
Batumi Arena, Batumi

The fans were back in force as the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was held in Georgia and Romania.

While the first 16-team edition in 2021 had been forced by COVID-19 to play with the group stage and knockouts months apart, in front of either empty stadiums or restricted crowds, the 2023 finals were back to normal, nearly 320,000 fans watching the games with the record attendance broken three times by co-hosts Georgia.

Another record went as England won the tournament, not only becoming the first team to gain six victories in the expanded format but also going through the finals without conceding a goal, never previously done even when it took four or five matches to claim the trophy.

The Young Lions looked good from the start as they won all their group games 2-0, defeating Czechia, Israel and holders Germany. That ended the hopes of the defending champions, who had begun with a 1-1 draw against Israel for whom goalkeeper Daniel Peretz saved two penalties.

That proved crucial as Germany then lost 2-1 to Czechia, who were in turn beaten 1-0 by Israel, taking their place in the knockout phase for the first time.

In the other group in Georgia, the co-hosts starred from the start on their U21 finals debut, beating 2021 runners-up Portugal 2-0 and then holding Belgium and the Netherlands to top the section.

The three games in Tbilisi were watched by a total of more than 100,000 spectators, the Belgium and Netherlands matches both finals records of more than 40,000. Portugal edged out Belgium to also go through.

In Romania, Spain and Ukraine both progressed from Group B with a game to spare, each beating the local co-hosts and Croatia. Spain levelled late in the group decider to finish top.

Spain's fellow five-time champions Italy fell in Group D, however, in which France beat the Azzurrini, Norway and Switzerland to finish six points clear. It was Switzerland who finished second, on three-way head-to-head goals scored, Norway's concluding 1-0 win against Italy spelling the end for both teams.

Georgia's hopes were ended in the quarter-finals as in front of another tournament record crowd of 44,338 – the game switched to Tbilisi's bigger stadium once the co-hosts' progress was confirmed – they lost on penalties to Israel, Peretz again the hero although his booking meant a semi-final suspension.

England defeated Portugal 1-0 to ensure an Israel rematch. In Romania another group rematch was set up as Spain beat Switzerland 2-1 after extra time and Ukraine came from behind to defeat France 3-1.

Israel's run ended as they lost 3-0 to England while in their semi-final Ukraine were on the end of their own emphatic comeback as they took the lead against Spain but lost 5-1.

Few could argue that England vs Spain was not a worthy final in Batumi. It proved tight, England edging ahead in first-half added time when Cole Palmer's free-kick was deflected in by Curtis Jones.

It was eight minutes into second-half added time when Spain had their chance to level as Abel Ruiz earned a penalty but his kick was saved by James Trafford, keeping his sixth clean sheet of the finals as England won their first title since their triumphs of 1982 and 1984.

Abel Ruiz ended level with team-mate Sergio Gómez and Ukraine's Georgiy Sudakov as top scorer on three goals while England forward Anthony Gordon was named Player of the Tournament having spearheaded their fluid attacking approach under Lee Carsley.