UEFA European U-21 Championship 2017 Scouting Reports

The highly-anticipated UEFA European U-21 Championship 2017 in Poland have ended several weeks ago. It was a thrilling journey for some of the teams, but kind of forgettable for some others.

There were several famous names in the tournament, with the likes of Serge Gnabry, Hector Bellerin, Marco Asensio, Saul Niguez, Patrik Schick, Nathan Redmond, and many others.


Tournaments like this are usually the ideal place for scouts to find young talents for their teams. Which player impressed them the most, which player captured the most attentions, which player could potentially grow to be a world-class talent. They can all be spotted in this competition if you have keen eyes for them.

Here I'm going to present to you my scouting reports of the UEFA European U-21 Championship.

This consists of match reports and player reports throughout the whole tournament and also the tournament summary.

Match Reports

Group Stage

Matchday 1

Group A

-Poland 1-2 Slovakia

Goals: Patryk Lipski; Martin Valjent, Pavel Safranko
Notable players: Patryk Lipski, Martin Chrien, Stanislav Lobotka, Martin Valjent, Pavel Safranko

-Sweden 0-0 England

Notable players: Tammy Abraham, Pawel Cibicki, Jordan Pickford, Alfie Mawson

Group B

-Portugal 2-0 Serbia

Goals: Goncalo Guedes, Bruno Fernandes
Notable players: Daniel Podence, Goncalo Guedes, Bruno Fernandes, Renato Sanches

-Spain 5-0 Macedonia

Goals: Saul Niguez, Marco Asensio (3), Gerard Deulofeu
Notable players: Saul Niguez, Jose Luis Gaya, Marco Asensio, Gerard Deulofeu, Marcos Llorente

Group C

-Denmark 0-2 Italy

Goals: Lorenzo Pellegrini, Andrea Petagna
Notable players: Lorenzo Pellegrini, Federico Chiesa, Andrea Petagna, Gianluigi Donnarumma

-Germany 2-0 Czech Republic

Goals: Maximilian Meyer, Davie Selke
Notable players: Serge Gnabry, Maximilian Meyer, Maximilian Arnold, Niklas Stark, Lukasz Zima

Matchday 2

Group A

-Poland 2-2 Sweden

Goals: Lukasz Moneta, Dawid Kownacki; Carlos Strandberg, Jacob Une Larsson
Notable players: Dawid Kownacki, Lukasz Moneta, Karol Linetty, Jacob Une Larsson, Kristoffer Olsson, Gustav Engvall

-Slovakia 1-2 England

Goals: Martin Chrien; Alfie Mawson, Nathan Redmond
Notable players: Nathan Redmond, Tammy Abraham, Martin Chrien, Alfie Mawson, Ward-Prowse

Group B

-Serbia 2-2 Macedonia

Goals: Mijat Gacinovic, Uros Djurdjevic; Enis Bardhi, Nikola Gjorgjev
Notable players: Andrija Zivkovic, Mijat Gacinovic, Enis Bardhi, Uros Djurdjevic, Elif Elmas, Srdjan Plavsic, Nikola Gjorgjev

-Portugal 1-3 Spain

Goals: Bruma; Saul Niguez, Sandro Ramirez, Inaki Williams
Notable players: Saul Niguez, Bruno Fernandes, Sandro Ramirez, Bruma, Inaki Williams

Group C

-Germany 3-0 Denmark

Goals: Davie Selke, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Nadiem Amiri
Notable players: Davie Selke, Serge Gnabry, Julian Pollersbeck, Nadiem Amiri, Maximilian Meyer

-Czech Republic 3-1 Italy

Goals: Michal Travnik, Marek Havlik, Michael Lueftner; Domenico Berardi
Notable players: Michal Travnik, Michael Lueftner, Domenico Berardi, Milan Havel, Marek Havlik, Danilo Cataldi

Matchday 3

Group A

-England 3-0 Poland

Goals: Demarai Gray, Jacob Murphy, Lewis Baker
Notable players: Demarai Gray, Jakub Wrabel, Ben Chilwell, John Swift, Calum Chambers

-Slovakia 3-0 Sweden

Goals: Martin Chrien, Jaroslav Mihalik, Lubomir Satka
Notable: Lubomir Satka, Robert Mazan, Jaroslav Mihalik, Martin Chrien

Group B


-Serbia 0-1 Spain

Goals: Denis Suarez
Notable players: Denis Suarez, Alvaro Odriozola, Carlos Soler

-Macedonia 2-4 Portugal

Goals: Enis Bardhi, Kire Markoski; Edgar Le, Daniel Podence, Bruma (2)
Notable players: Bruma, Enis Bardhi, Elif Elmas, Iuri Medeiros, Daniel Podence

Group C

-Czech Republic 2-4 Denmark

Goals: Patrik Schick, Tomas Chory; Lucas Andersen, Kenneth Zohore (2), Marcus Ingvartsen
Notable players: Kenneth Zohore, Lucas Andersen, Marcus Ingvartsen, Patrik Schick, Vaclav Cerny

-Italy 1-0 Germany

Goals: Federico Bernardeschi
Notable players: Federico Bernardeschi, Julian Pollersbeck, Andrea Conti, Jeremy Toljan, Gianluigi Donnarumma

Semi-Finals

-England 2-2 (3-4  PEN) Germany

Goals: Demarai Gray, Tammy Abraham; Davie Selke, Felix Platte
Notable players: Davie Selke, Jeremy Toljan, Demarai Gray, Will Hughes, Tammy Abraham, Felix Platte, Maximilian Arnold, Julian Pollersbeck

-Spain 3-1 Italy

Goals: Saul Niguez (3); Federico Bernardeschi
Notable players: Marco Asensio, Dani Ceballos, Gerard Deulofeu, Saul Niguez, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Federico Bernardeschi

Final

-Germany 1-0 Spain

Goals: Mitchell Weiser
Notable players: Mitchell Weiser, Jeremy Toljan, Marc-Oliver Kempf, Maximilian Meyer, Maximilian Arnold, Julian Pollersbeck, Dani Ceballos, Saul Niguez, Inaki Williams, Hector Bellerin

Tournament Summary

Below is the most expensive XI in UEFA European U-21 Championship 2017, according to Transfermarkt:



And this is the official team of the tournament, by UEFA

Top Scorer:

Saul Niguez was the cream of the crop for Spain as he finished the tournament as the top scorer with 5 goals in 4 games followed by Marco Asensio with 3 goals in 4 games and Bruma with 3 goals in 3 games.

Most Assists:

Jeremy Toljan brought Germany to winning ways with his creativity and resolution, he finished the tournament with the most assists with 3 assists to his name followed by Iuri Medeiros and Federico Chiesa with 2 assists

Most Clean Sheets:

Julian Pollersbeck was as solid as a brick wall in the tournament, keeping his team in the game with his fast reflexes and acrobatic saves, he finished the tournament with 3 clean sheets in 5 games, followed by Gianluigi Donnarumma and Jordan Pickford with 2 clean sheets in 4 games.

Player of the tournament:

Dani Ceballos was awarded Player of the Tournament award by UEFA. He was obviously impressive throughout the competition. His passes, his dribbling skills was amazing. He is not the fastest player out there but he could easily glide past defenders and present a threat to the opposing team.

Sharpshooters:

Patrik Schick and Enis Bardhi was a really dangerous threat in the tournament. As evident by their having 7 attempts on target.

Other players that are worth mentioning

From my own perspective, I have made a list of players that are actually worth mentioning in the tournament, due to their contributions to the team. Here they are:

Poland:

Lukasz Moneta, Karol Linetty, Patryk Lipski, Dawid Kownacki, Mariusz Stepinski

Slovakia:

Martin Valjent, Lubomir Satka, Stanislav Lobotka, Jaroslav Mihalik, Martin Chrien, Matus Bero, Pavol Safranko

Sweden:

Linus Wahlqvist, Jacob Une Larsson, Kristoffer Olsson, Melker Hallberg, Gustav Engvall, Carlos Strandberg, Pawel Cibicki

England:

Jordan Pickford, Ben Chilwell, Alfie Mawson, Tammy Abraham, Demarai Gray, James Ward-Prowse, Nathan Redmond

Spain:

Kepa Arrizabalaga, Alvaro Odriozola, Jorge Mere, Marcos Llorente, Carlos Soler, Sandro Ramirez, Inaki Williams

Portugal:

Edgar Le, Daniel Podence, Bruno Fernandes, Iuri Medeiros, Renato Sanches, Goncalo Guedes, Diogo Jota, Bruma

Serbia:

Milan Gajic, Mijat Gacinovic, Marko Grujic, Andrija Zivkovic, Srdjan Plavsic, Uros Djurdjevic

FYR Macedonia:

Elif Elmas, Enis Bardhi, Nikola Gjorgjev, Kire Markoski

Italy:

Gianluigi Donnarumma, Danilo Cataldi, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Andrea Petagna, Domenico Berardi, Federico Chiesa.

Czech Republic:

Michael Lueftner, Milan Havel, Marek Havlik, Jakub Jankto, Vaclav Cerny, Patrik Schick

Denmark:

Patrick Banggaard, Andrew Hjulsager, Marcus Ingvartsen, Lucas Andersen, Kenneth Zohore

Germany:

Marc-Oliver Kempf, Serge Gnabry, Mitchell Weiser, Nadiem Amiri, Davie Selke, Felix Platte, Janik Haberer, Maximilian Philipp, Mahmoud Dahoud

And those were my reports of the UEFA European U-21 Championship 2017. I hope you enjoyed them and I hope they could be useful. Thank you for reading.