European Under-21 Championship final: Spain v Germany betting preview & tip

Sky Sports Football & Main Event, 7.45pm Sunday

A whopping 75 goals have been scored in 20 matches at this year's European Under-21 Championship and the final between Spain and Germany should continue the trend with a high-scoring showdown in Udine.

Spain possess the greater class and deserve to be favourites, although Germany have already notched 14 times in their four games and won't be holding back despite the superior technical ability of their opponents.

It appeared that Spain were on their way out of the competition following an opening-night 3-1 loss to hosts Italy.

A late Pablo Fornals goal kept them alive with a 2-1 victory over Belgium before West Ham's new midfielder broke the deadlock in a critical 5-0 pummelling of group leaders Poland.

France were thrashed 4-1 in the semi-finals as Spain scored for the 25th time in their last 26 matches at this level - the exception was in the final two years in a 1-0 defeat to Germany.

That performance once again highlighted Germany's appetite to rise to tournament football and they have scored in 21 of their last 22 matches at Under-21 level.

Luca Waldschmidt has been one of the stars of the tournament, notching in every game, and he has been ably assisted by Marco Richter.

No clean sheets in seven outings for Germany, however, spells trouble against Spain and Romania pushed the defending champions to the limit before two last-gasp goals saw them win 4-2 on Thursday.

Recommendation
Both teams to score
2pts 4-6 bet365

Key stat
Both teams have scored in Germany's last seven matches.

Team lowdowns

Spain

Strengths
As usual Spain are blessed with a wonderfully gifted and technical midfield with Ruiz, Fornals and Ceballos.

Weaknesses
Spain have struggled to find a natural striker so winger Mikel Oyarzabal has been pushed into the central attacking role.

Key player
Dani Ceballos is determined to show Real Madrid he deserves to keep his place in their squad but his performances will have alerted potential suitors.

Germany

Strengths
It's all about the forwards for Germany with 14 goals scored in their four matches and 30 shots on target.

Weaknesses
No clean sheets in seven is a damning statistic for the holders and so is the fact that they have conceded a penalty in every match during this tournament.

Key player
Freiburg's Luca Waldschmidt has had a wonderful summer, scoring seven times, which is the joint-most in the competition's history.

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