The team of Santi Denia will look for its eighth European Under-19 Championship on Saturday after beating France on penalties

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One more final. If less than a month ago Spain was crowned European Under-21 champion after winning the final in Germany, yesterday it was the U-19 team that imposed France on penalties and certified its presence in the European final, where next Saturday he will seek to conquer his eighth title of the category against the current champion, Portugal, who had previously imposed himself with authority on Ireland (4-0).

The shock initially responded to the expected script. France, which was planted in the semifinals as the only team that had won its three group stage matches, gave up the ball to Spain and simply waited in their field and tried to steal to search Abi and Ndilu for speed, the two points that remained off-hook with hardly any defensive responsibilities. Spain, used to carry the handle throughout the tournament, accepted the proposal and, with Orellana and Sergio Gómez in command, took over the ball.

A domain that in the first half hour was inert. Fear of cons caused Spain to move the ball too slowly to avoid losses in dangerous positions. The excessive patience of the team in the movement of the ball barely bothered a France that surrounded Bajic with two lines of four that built near the front of their area, a formula that had taken them to the semifinals without conceding any goal.

The dull pace with which the game was going benefited France. Without much bragging, the bleus were about to release the score in their first approach to the goal of Tenas. Before the passivity of the Spanish defense, Flips took a whip from the front that repelled the crossbar and put on notice the boys of Santi Denia.

The fright activated Spain. In the last bars of the first half he began to move the ball with more intention and to approach with danger the French goal. In spite of the notorious physical superiority of the Gauls, La Roja was about to get ahead twice on the ball stopped before the break. After the resumption, France jumped to the green with the intention of taking a step forward, something that Spain thanked. For the first time, Ferran was able to run and find spaces behind the French. But Bryan Ruiz arrived very forced to his center, sending the first great occasion to the table.

The first and the last, in fact. That approach would be a mirage seen what would come next. The clash became a game of chess in which, as the minutes passed and the extension approached, and subsequently the penalties, the fear of losing was imposed on the desire to win. This led to the final round, where Tenas, who stopped the launch of Isidor, and Ferran, who scored the fifth and final shot, became the protagonists of the pass to a new final of the lower categories of the selection.