Under-21 EURO highlights, round-up: Germany, England, Denmark win

Holders England are up and running at the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship but Thursday's action was dominated by Nick Woltemade, who struck a hat-trick for Germany. Denmark twice came from behind to beat Ukraine, while Netherlands recovered from 2-0 down to earn a point against Finland.

We review the second day of Matchday 1 action.

Czechia 1-3 England

Harvey Elliott, Jonathan Rowe and Charlie Cresswell scored as the holders saw off a dangerous Czechia side in Dunajská Streda. The Young Lions went ahead through Elliott's strike before half-time and looked comfortable when Rowe turned in Tino Livramento's cross via a deflection in the 48th minute.

Daniel Fila powered in Václav Sejk's searching delivery three minutes later, but Cresswell's expert header from an Alex Scott corner clinched his side's victory 14 minutes from time.

Player of the Match: Tino Livramento (England)

Key stat: England have won their last seven U21 EURO group matches, though Fila ended their run of six clean sheets.

Germany 3-0 Slovenia

Woltemade underlined his billing as one of the players to watch at this summer's tournament as his hat-trick – only the seventh in finals history – earned Germany a comfortable opening win in Nitra.

After Nicolò Tresoldi was initially denied by Martin Turk, he recovered to set up Woltemade for the opener instead. The Stuttgart forward, fresh from the UEFA Nations League finals, poked in another shortly before half-time and converted a late penalty after Lovro Golič fouled Nelson Weiper.

Player of the Match: Nick Woltemade (Germany)

Key stat: Germany ended a run of five group matches without victory (D3 L2) but the wait for a win goes on for Slovenia, playing their second tournament (D1 L3).

Ukraine 2-3 Denmark

Denmark twice came from behind to secure a stunning comeback victory against 2023 semi-finalists Ukraine. William Bøving's deflected strike and a close-range finish from substitute William Osula sealed the win in the space of four minutes late on for Steffen Højer's side.

Maksym Braharu's curling effort had looked to be enough for Ukraine with just over ten minutes remaining, restoring the lead for Unai Melgosa's men after Denmark replacement Clement Bischoff had cancelled out Nazar Voloshyn's first-half opener.

Player of the Match: Oleh Ocheretko (Ukraine)

Key stat: Denmark recorded maximum points for the sixth successive group match at the Under-21 EURO finals.

Finland 2-2 Netherlands

Dutch substitutes Luciano Valente and Ernest Poku helped the Jong Oranje deny Finland a famous victory on their first finals outing since 2009. Valente's deflected strike on the hour and Poku's cool finish in added time secured a share of the spoils for Michael Reiziger's men.

The Eagle-Owls had put themselves firmly in control thanks to two goals in the space of three first-half minutes from Casper Terho and Topi Keskinen, both instigated by the Finnish press, but were unable to repel the pressure from the two-time winners after the break.

Player of the Match: Santari Väänänen (Finland)

Key stat: They may have hoped for all three, but this was Finland's first finals point.