Preview: Slovakia Under-21 vs Spain Under-21 - prediction, team news, lineups

The 2025 European Under-21 Championship will get underway when tournament hosts Slovakia Under-21s face Spain Under-21s in Bratislava on Wednesday.

Slovakia are making their first appearance at the finals since 2017, while La Rojita are featuring in their fifth consecutive Under-21 Euros.

Match preview

Having been granted automatic qualification as hosts, Slovakia are set to make their third appearance as an independent nation at the Under-21 Euros.

They finished in fourth place on their tournament debut in 2000, before they had to wait 17 years to make their return to the competition.

Unfortunately for Slovakia, they failed to make it out of the group stage at the 2017 tournament despite winning two of their three matches.

On that occasion, only the top side was guaranteed progression to the semi-finals, but the current format includes a quarter-final stage, meaning the top two will get the chance to play knockout football.

Slovakia will be aware they have their work cut out to reach the last eight, with Jaroslav Kentos’s side set to feature in a tricky group alongside Spain, Italy and Romania.

Unfortunately for the tournament hosts, they will enter the competition on the back of a five-game winless run (D2, L3), including a 2-2 draw in a friendly against Slovenia earlier this month.

In contrast to their opponents, Spain have a long history at the European Under-21 Championships after winning the competition on five previous occasions.

They went close to lifting the trophy for a sixth time in 2023, as they successfully negotiated their way to the final before they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to England.

La Rojita are now preparing to make their fifth consecutive appearance at the tournament after making light work of the qualification process, winning nine and drawing one of their 10 matches to finish top of Group B.

However, Santi Denia’s side will be disappointed by the fact that they are yet to win a match in 2025, having drawn one and lost two of their three friendly encounters.

After playing out a 2-2 draw with the Czech Republic, Spain went on to lose 3-1 to Germany in their final match of the March international window, before returning to action with a narrow 1-0 loss in Friday’s warm-up game against Ukraine. 

However, their current crop of Spain youngsters can draw inspiration from the fact that the Under-21 side has made it out of the group stage in each of their last six appearances at the tournament. 

La Rojita got off to the perfect start at the last two Under-21 Euros, easing to a 3-0 victory over Slovenia in 2021 before repeating that scoreline in their group opener against Romania in 2023. 

Slovakia Under-21 form (all competitions)

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Spain Under-21 form (all competitions)

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Team News

Lubomir Belko is set to feature between the posts for Slovakia, while Jakub Jakubko and Marek Ujlaky are likely to operate as the two central defenders.

Almeria’s Martin Svidersky could be given the chance to start in the middle of the park alongside Mario Sauer and Sebastian Nebyla. 

Meanwhile, Roman Cerepkai is in contention to lead the line, with the striker looking to add to his three-goal tally for the Under-21 side.

As for Spain, they could line up with an all-Valencia centre-back pairing of Cesar Tarrega and Cristhian Mosquera, while Marc Pubill and Gerard Martin should operate as the two full-backs.

There could be a couple more Valencia players in the starting lineup, with Javi Guerra set to play in midfield and Diego Lopez in line to feature down the right flank.

Leeds’ Mateo Joseph should lead the line in Wednesday’s fixture, having scored seven goals in 10 appearances for the Under-21 side.

Slovakia Under-21 possible starting lineup:

Belko; Kopasek, Uljaky, Jakubko, Javorcek; Sauer, Nebyla, Svidersky; Holly, Marcelli, Cerepkai

Spain Under-21 possible starting lineup:

Iturbe; Pubill, Tarrega, Mosquera, Martin; Jauregizar, Guerra; Lopez, Torre, Moleiro; Joseph

We say: Slovakia Under-21 1-3 Spain Under-21

Spain may be winless in 2025, but their squad is far superior on paper than Slovakia's, and with that in mind, we ultimately believe La Rojita will showcase their extra quality to begin their campaign with a relatively comfortable victory. 

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