There is more to the Spain U-21 side than just Marco Asensio
The second Euro 2017 U-21 game saw another win for Celades' side and this time delivering an even better performance than their 5-0 winning debut over Macedonia on Saturday. "La Rojita" showed yesterday that there is more to the side than just an excellent Asensio and they are far from over reliant on the Mallorca born player's sublime left foot. Last night they overcame a Portugal side who had gone six years unbeaten at U-21 level. The Portuguese are a solid team with two great strikers and work well as a collective. Spain matched them in every area of the pitch with Saúl and Ceballos particularly impressive.
Deulofeu
The only question mark I have surrounding this team is strangely Deulofeu. He's a excellent talent and fantastic at talking players on with the ball at his feet all and if anything is the "veteran" of the side. His skill and ability should elevate him to the position of a game changing player due to this precocious talent and I feel the current Everton player needs to make a leap forward in order to forge his career ahead and establish himself as a vital element of future Spanish international squads. Last night at the Gdynia stadium he did provide the assist for Spain to go two up on the night through Sandro.
U-21 squad
A brief insight to my point was the difference that Iñaki Williams made when he was introduced in the 82nd minute of the game for Deulofeu. His late goal easing the tension that the wonder-strike from Bruma produced as the Portuguese side looked to draw level in the final minutes. We were into injury time when the Athletic player outran Semedo and slotted home from an acute angle. Bringing on a talent such as Williams demonstrates the quality of the U-21 squad and we've yet to see the skills of Carlos Soler which just goes to show how difficult it is to break into the starting XI. Spain are into the semi-final with the game against Serbia still to play and that in itself provides an excellent opportunity to rest key players.
