Joselu puts faith in united Spain

With his team deep in preparation for Friday's UEFA European Under-19 Championship Group B meeting with Serbia, Spain forward José Luis Sanmartín 'Joselu' predicted the high morale among Luis Milla's squad will make the four-time winners tough to beat in Ukraine.

Strong bonds
With the second half of Tuesday night's 2-1 win against Turkey just three minutes old and his team trailing to Eren Albayrak's early opener, Joselu was fouled inside the opposition box, allowing Iago Falqué to slot in an equaliser from the penalty spot. Moments later the RC Celta de Vigo forward was on hand to apply an instinctive first-time finish to Jordi's right-wing cross and Spain held on for victory. "The game was quite tough but in the space of five minutes, and after a couple of good moves from us, things really turned in our favour," the striker told uefa.com. "There are players here who have been playing together in the various youth teams for many years. We are very united and we've formed such a tightly-knit group that it helps us to do well in our games."

Past winner
The 19-year-old from Galicia is drawing inspiration from the player who scored the only goal of Spain's victory in the 2002 final, explaining: "My favourite player when I was growing up was without doubt Fernando Torres. I'm not just saying that because he's Spanish but because, as a striker, he impressed me so much." Torres' four goals in Norway helped Spain to the first of their four U19 titles, and if they are to claim a fifth Joselu believes that it will be done using a "step by step" approach. "There are two very important games left in this group," he said. "We have to forget the win against Turkey and look to do well in our next match against Serbia."

Future prospects
Things are certainly looking promising for Joselu, who signed his first professional contract for Celta this month having worked his way up through the youth ranks at the club. "During the last month and a half of last season I stepped up to the first team and managed about 45 minutes in two [second division] games," he said. "It wasn't much time but I was thrilled to get the experience. I signed professionally with Celta and I hope that the coach is going to count on me in the future as it would be great to play more. I want to do well and I hope that things go well for me and my club in the second division next season."