Spain U21 vs France U21 Predictions

The heavyweight semi-final at the Under 21 European Championships on Thursday pits together Spain and France. The Spanish are regular contenders at this competition, while France have made it for the first time in the last seven tournaments. Les Bleus are coming off their senior side winning the world cup, but do they have another steady stream of young talent behind their current world champions?

Spain are looking at the Under 21 side as part of a wider rebuild. They are trying to retool their senior side, which was allowed to drift with too many old stars carried over. Ten years ago the Spanish were ruthless about including the very best talent and only picking players who were getting minutes. They need a new batch of stars for the future, which can be seen in this Under 21 side.

This France side isn’t a stellar one, but they do have some potential stars of the future. They have talented players in the shape of Ibrahima Konaté and Houssem Aouar, but overall this squad won’t be the backbone of the squad down the line, as the current French senior side is already young enough. Winning the title would show strength in depth, but do France have that much talent?

Spain have come to the Euros with a clear aim of winning the title. They’ve made a strong squad selection including some experienced top stars, which has left them pushing for glory as the competition wraps up this week. They did well just to survive this long, after losing to Italy in their opener. The Spanish bounced back from that with two victories, which suggests they are back in form and ready to go all the way in Italy this summer.

Spain first beat Belgium 2-1, a result they followed up by crushing Poland 5-0. The Poles had been in top spot at the time, so to record that heavy victory to book a semi-final place shows the talent in this Spanish team. Meanwhile, France were never really pushed on their way to finishing second in Group C. They pulled off a late turnaround to see off England, while they narrowly edged out a poor Croatia side.

The main problem for France has been their finishing. They missed two penalties against England, then scored just once in the two games which followed. Spain are now showing a balance across their side which makes them seem formidable, so we’re backing Spain for a victory on Thursday.