Greece within sight of semi-finals

Greece closed in on a place in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship semi-finals for the first time despite being denied victory by Daniel Beichler's second-half penalty, which kept Austria in contention in Group A.

Point required
Nikolaos Nioplias' team had opened the finals with a 1-0 win against Portugal on Monday and their goalscorer then, Kostas Mitroglou, was on target again, racing clear to give his side a 15th-minute advantage. Having lost to Spain two days ago Austria's challenge would have ended with another defeat but a spirited second-half showing was rewarded by Beichler's 61st-minute penalty. Both sides ended with ten men, Marko Arnautovic and Georgios Ioannidis picking up late red cards, but Greece and Spain both need a point from their Matchday 3 meeting in Linz to ensure progress, while Austria and Saturday's opponents Portugal must win in Ried to have any hope of reaching the last four.

Mitroglou strikes again
A capacity crowd in Pasching gave the hosts a rousing reception and they nearly had an early goal to cheer as Vasilios Apostolopoulos was required to clear Arnautovic's shot off the line, although the assistant referee had already raised his flag for offside. Instead it was Greece who made the breakthrough, Sotirios Ninis springing the Austria defence with a typically perceptive pass that allowed Mitroglou to advance and calmly slot his second goal in as many games past Wolfgang Schober.

Arnautovic denied
Ninis was involved in much of Greece's best early work, stinging the palms of the Austria goalkeeper and subsequently providing Michail Boukouvalas with a shooting opportunity the right-back sliced wide. Austria had chances of their own, the lively Christoph Mattes coming close to an equaliser after Apostolos Androustos had fumbled before, with the last kick of the first half, Arnautovic escaped down the left and drilled a low shot beyond the Greece goalkeeper, who was rescued by his left-hand post.

Instant impact
Austria picked up where they had left off in the second half, substitute Dominik Pürcher pushing forward to shoot just wide, but it was another replacement, Edin Salkic, who made the bigger impression. Two minutes after his 58th-minute introduction the forward was hauled down by Dimitrios Siovas and Beichler placed the resulting spot-kick low into the bottom corner of the net. Salkic then drew a fine diving save from Androustos, who was injured in keeping out Beichler's follow-up, before the late red cards. Greece are not without concerns of their own, as Elini Dimoutsos is also suspended against Spain after a first-half booking while Giannis Papadopoulos was carried off on a stretcher shortly before half-time.