Captains keep eyes on final prize

Although either Scotland captain Scott Cuthbert or his Spanish counterpart Antonio Adán will have the honour of becoming the fifth man to hold aloft the UEFA European Under-19 Championship trophy on Saturday evening, for now at least both remain focused on one thing and one thing only – what must be done to get their hands on the prize.

'Excellent performance'
Adán epitomises the calm confidence sweeping through a Spanish side who have scored a mighty 30 goals in their seven competitive U19 fixtures this season – 15 of which have come at the finals – as he explained the Spanish philosophy ahead of the game at the Stadion Miejski in Poznan. "Both teams will want to play well and produce an excellent performance to show how good they have been at this tournament," he said. "We want to win but if we lose, there is some consolation if we have played well."

'Great achievement'
For Cuthbert, Scotland's performance in reaching this showpiece is the result of months of effort. "Every player wants to play in top tournaments and this is certainly one of those," he said. "It's a great achievement and we've worked hard for a year now to be here. To win this trophy would be a fantastic achievement for the boys as we've been underdogs throughout. No one expected us to get out of the group so it would be great if we could go all the way and lift the trophy."

Hard work rewarded
Few could have expected Scotland to reach this stage after the Spanish inflicted a 4-0 defeat in Group B ten days ago but Adán recognises quality opposition when he sees it. "Maybe Scotland were not the favourites to get to the final, but we know they have worked very, very hard and they deserve to be here. We have to consider that they have eliminated three great teams: France in qualifying and Portugal and Turkey here, so they have got every right to be here."

'Top-class' opposition
Cuthbert is less surprised to be renewing acquaintances with the Spanish, who have been many observers' favourites for the trophy from the opening whistle. "When we played Spain in our second game, we expected them to be there or thereabouts for the final. They've got a lot of top-class players who have already played first-team football. Spain are one of the best teams in the world and hopefully we can give a good performance against such a great side."

'Concentration and enjoyment'
Both men are inspiring figures although, when asked what their final words to their team-mates before kick-off will be, their answers offer an insight into their different characters. "I'll remind them that we must concentrate and enjoy the match," Adán said. "This is a good opportunity to show to people – our clubs and ourselves – that we can play in big matches and that we are good enough to win trophies."

'Meet expectations'
For Cuthbert the will to win should come from within. "There's not much you can say before a cup final, you should be motivated enough," he said. "We'll be playing in front of a big crowd and there'll be people back home watching us on television and expecting us to win and we need to be ready to meet those expectations." While both men will doubtless exhort their teams to ever greater efforts, only one can grasp the prize on Saturday night.