Spain and Greece out to light up Linz

The coaches of Spain and Greece were united in praise for the efforts of their opponents as the teams prepare to meet at the Linzer Stadion on Friday night in the final of the 6th UEFA European Under-19 Championship.

Spain experiences
Holders Spain became the first team to reach successive U19 finals having defeated the side that preceded them as European champions, France, in a penalty shoot-out on Tuesday, and have won their three previous U19 finals. Indeed, Juan Santisteban's side are bidding to become the first side to win successive U19 titles and, following their U17 success in May, only the second country to triumph in both UEFA youth tournaments after the Republic of Ireland took the U16 and U18 titles nine years ago.

EURO guide
Greece, by contrast, are in only their second youth final - their first, in the 1985 European U16 Championship, ended in a 4-0 defeat against the Soviet Union. Nikolaos Nioplias is looking to the rather more recent history for inspiration, however, saying: "UEFA EURO 2004™ was like a guide for us, they showed us the way. That team showed us nothing is impossible. Our main objective was to get to the semi-finals. We've done that and now we must give our all to try to win the final. We believe in ourselves, we've achieved our aims so far and now our objective is to lift the trophy."

'Big prestige'
At the other end of the scale, 70-year-old Santisteban is looking for his eighth youth title and, having guided the U17 team to glory less than three months ago, he is far too experienced to take anything for granted. "It's hard to predict what will happen, the two teams are very similar," he said. "It will be a difficult match as there's very little between them. Two U19 finals in a row is a big prestige for us, it's great for our federation. Most important is the quality of the two squads; no one would have foreseen these two teams would have reached the final."

Notable absentees
Both sides are without their usual captains through suspension, with Spain's Javier Martínez and Sokratis Papastathopoulos of Greece both picking up their second yellow cards of the tournament in the semi-finals. In addition, Vassilis Pliatsikas was sent off in Greece's 3-2 win against Germany in the last four while Martínez's partner in central midfield Ángel Montoro saw red against Germany and in goal Sergio Asenjo will replace Felipe Ramos, who has an ankle injury. "We hope to find an alternative to the players we've lost," Santisteban added. "It's a test for the two new players and I expect them to both make a good contribution. I'm very impressed by Greece, as a team they work very well together."

'Second coach'
Nioplias, who was invited to inspect his opponents' youth set-up by the Spanish Football Federation in February, also bemoaned the absentees, adding: "These are two very big losses, especially our captain. He's like a second coach because he inspires the whole team. It's a pity for all four suspended players, but I expect their replacements to do well. Both teams deserve to be here and there are no outsiders, and no favourites, in a final. We've played Spain ten times and lost six, but that won't have much impact. More importantly is the joy we get from the effort we've made to reach the final and of course I'd be very happy to win it – that's our aim."