Aiming to take another step towards a record-extending 10th Euro Under-17 Championship crown, Spain Under-17s tackle holders France Under-17s in Tuesday afternoon's semi final at the Pancho Arena in Felcsut.
Either Poland Under-17s or Germany Under-17s will be awaiting the victors in the final, with the other two semi-finalists going head-to-head a few hours later.
Match preview
Failing to keep a clean sheet in the group stage and drawing their final game, Spain's opening to the 2023 Euro Under-17 Championship was far from perfect, but a tally of seven points from a possible nine against Italy, Slovenia and Serbia saw La Rojita comfortably book their place in the quarter-finals.
A Republic of Ireland-shaped test awaited Spain in the last eight, but Julen Guerrero's charges barely needed to get out of second gear to record a dominant 3-0 win courtesy of goals from Alejandro Granados, Marc Guiu - who leads the way in the tournament with four strikes - and Barcelona protege Lamine Yamal.
By sweeping aside the Irish, Spain also confirmed their spot at the upcoming 2023 Under-17 World Cup as one of the five best performing sides at the continental championships, as well as improving on their quarter-final exit from 2022, when Portugal sent them packing.
Consistently producing some of the finest young talent the continent has to offer, Spain have already been crowned Euro Under-17 champions on nine occasions - most recently in 2017 - but their last appearance in the semi-finals ended in defeat to the Netherlands in 2019.
Entering the semi-finals on a 10-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, Spain have also failed to score just once in their last 30 matches, but the defending champions will be no pushovers on the Felcsut turf.
While Spain's route to the semi-finals has been a relatively straightforward one, France have hardly been pulling up trees as defending champions, only just scraping through Group C in second place with four points to their name.
An opening-day 3-1 win over Scotland proved priceless for Jean-Luc Vannuchi's team, who subsequently lost to Germany and drew with Portugal - whom they finished level with points on but bested on goal difference - and a challenging semi-final versus Group D winners England was their reward for their shortcomings.
However, the holders produced a dogged defensive display and were awarded a penalty in the dying embers, which Mathis Lambourde converted in the 89th minute to seal a 1-0 win and a place in the final four to keep their dreams of back-to-back Euro Under-17 titles alive.
France struggling to assert their dominance as defending champions is nothing new; Les Bleuets went out in the 2016 group stage without winning a game after their triumphant 2015 run, but Lambourde's spot kick versus England stretched their own stellar goalscoring run to 18 matches.
Since being humiliated 6-1 by France in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Under-17 World Cup, Spain have beaten the reigning European champions four times in a row in friendly matches - most recently prevailing 2-1 in April 2022 and outscoring Les Bleuets 14-3 in the process.
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- D
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