Serbia: Dmitrovic; Petkovic, Pantic, Veljkovic, Petrovic; Srnica (Cavric 68’), Radoja, Kovacevic (Srdan 82’), Kostic, Causic; Pesic (Uros 87’). 4-5-1.
Spain: Kepa; Manquillo, Sergi Gómez, Muniesa, Alberto Moreno; Saúl Ñíguez, Sergi Roberto; Deulofeu (Sarabia 68’), Isco, Muniain (Oliver 77’); Morata. 4-2-3-1.
Goals: None.
Spain’s under 21 side survived the first leg of their play-off against Serbia, a 0-0 draw giving them a slight advantage going in to next Tuesday’s return match in Cádiz. Despite an all-star line-up including the likes of Morata, Isco, Deulofeu and Muniain, this was never going to be an easy tie, and the poor state of the pitch in Jagodina didn’t help Spain’s creative style of play. As a result chances were few and far between, a couple of efforts by Morata and Deulofeu before the break which caused few problems for Dmitrovic, and long shots either side of half time by Kovacevic which Kepa dealt with comfortably. Saúl Ñíguez headed just wide from two dead-ball kicks after the restart and Sarabia fired a long shot over the top, but in the end coach Albert Celades was happy to take a draw back to Spain. He will be missing Morata for that game though after the striker picked up a booking in injury time which means he will have to serve out a one match ban.