2023-07-05 01:11:53
Eight days after seeing each other’s faces in the last match of the first phase, Spain and Ukraine measure their forces again this Wednesday night in search of a place in the final of the European under-21. Abel Ruiz’s goal in the 90th minute of that game played at the Giulesti Stadium served for La Rojita to certify their place in the quarterfinals as the first group in a clash that was marked by rotations, since both teams reached the appointment with the classification in their pocket and they took the opportunity to distribute minutes and dose efforts. But this Wednesday’s match at the Steaua stadium in Bucharest takes on a very different relief.
In contention there is neither more nor less than a place in the decisive dispute to succeed Germany on the throne of the category. Big game both for Santi Denia, who is chasing the triple crown after reigning in the Old Continent at the helm of the Spanish sub-17 and sub-19, and for Mykhailo Mudryk, the man called to fill the vacancy he made available more than Andriy Shevchenko has been the indisputable football figure for a decade in a country currently torn apart by its war with Russia.
The fast attacker born 22 years ago in Krasnohrad, a small town located about a hundred kilometers away from Kharkov, has lived with the weight of expectations since Chelsea paid 70 million euros plus another 30 in variables to get him out of last month’s Shakhtar Donetsk January. The goal was to make him one of the banners of Todd Boehly’s new project, but his first months at Stamford Bridge left the ‘blue’ parish with a bad taste in the mouth.
The end of which Igor Jovicevic, his coach at Shakhtar, affirmed that he had “more offensive arguments than Vinicius” closed his first semester in London with a pyrrhic baggage of two assists and no goals in the 747 minutes he played spread over 17 games. He only started eight games, a sign of Frank Lampard’s lack of faith in him and his slow adaptation to English football.
Mudryk’s nightmare moved to Romania this summer, where he arrived with muscle discomfort that prevented him from participating in the three group stage matches. However, Ruslan Rotan handed him the baton in the quarterfinals against France and the blonde’s response was high. He caused the penalty with an extraordinary cut in the area that allowed Sudakov to neutralize Cherki’s previous goal from eleven meters. And then he served a great delivery from his field that earned Sudakov again to stand alone against the French goalkeeper and consummate the comeback that put the surprising Ukraine in their second semifinals of a European sub-21.
defensive duties
Whether the good harmony between the Chelsea footballer and the tournament’s top scorer is maintained depends to a large extent on the Ukrainian dream of beating a Spain that starts with the favourite, but knows that it will have to sweat the hell out again to reach what would be his ninth final in a European sub-21.
Santi Denia’s pupils suffered more than expected last Saturday to gain access to the semifinals against the ulcerative Switzerland, who once again exposed with a goal in discount the defensive vulnerabilities of Spain that Ukraine had already revealed four days before. Miranda saved the furniture in extra time, but La Rojita needs to improve on that plot so as not to get upset against the ‘Synio-Zhovti’.
Denia has all its footballers available and everything indicates that it will reissue the eleven with which it faced Switzerland, Sancet being the only one that would repeat the line-up that started eight days ago with Ukraine. Thus, the offensive beacon will once again be Abel Ruiz, who will equal Gerard Deulofeu as the player who has defended the Spanish team shirt the most times in the journey that goes from sub-17 to sub-21 (85). .
Once the passport for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games has been obtained, La Rojita now has the focus on the second of the objectives with which it landed in the European-21: to lift the title for the sixth time and break the tables with Italy in the top of the list. But to be on Saturday at the Batumi Arena in Georgia, site of the final, he will first have to pass over the Ukraine of a Mudryk who arrives with very sharp claws. It is not a small thing.
-Probable alignments:
Spain: Arnau Tenas, Víctor Gómez, Paredes, Pacheco, Miranda, Blanco, Baena, Rodri, Sancet, Sergio Gómez and Abel Ruiz.
Ukraine: Trubin, Sych, Batahov, Talovierov, Vivcharenko, Brazhko, Bondarenko, Kashchuk, Sudakov, Mudryk and Sikan.
Referee: Erik Lambrechts (Belgium).
Time: 9:00 p.m.
Estadio: Steaua Stadium de Bucarest.
TV: At 1.
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