European Under-21 Championship: England survive against Spain

Under 21 European Championships / Michael Lintorn / 13 June 2011 /

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Danny Welbeck scored the goal that earned England a point against favourites Spain

"Only one of the last five champions have won their first match."

Tournament favourites Spain and England drew on Sunday, with Spain looking the more impressive of the two but being punished for a lack of killer instinct.

The pre-tournament predictions that England had landed in the tougher of the two groups appeared accurate by the end of the first round of fixtures on Sunday as Czech Republic impressed against Ukraine and England were somewhat lucky to claim a point against [2.44] favourites Spain.

Spain were the stronger of the two frontrunners to win the competition but were forced to settle for a draw in a game that featured two controversial goals, with Ander Herrera seeming to handle and Danny Welbeck's late equaliser having a hint of offside, while he could have been sent off earlier on.

Failure to open with a victory was no disaster for the Young Lions however and even defeat wouldn't have meant the end, as only one of the last five champions have won their first match.

Stuart Pearce's side, who are attracting plenty of interest back home with Phil Jones subject to a tug of war between Manchester United and Liverpool and Jack Rodwell supposedly being chased by Chelsea and Tottenham, are in to [5.0] to claim their first title at this level in 27 years.

An even more incredible statistic is that three of the last five tournament winners were beaten in their first encounter. That will give hope to hosts Denmark ([16.5]), who despite losing their opener against Switzerland 1-0 on Saturday looked threatening, having had a last-gasp leveller harshly chalked off and been given reason to rue a fine performance by Swiss shot-stopper Yann Sommer.

The surprise early leaders in Group A are Belarus, who soaked up pressure against Iceland and struck twice late on, yet they remain [4.6] to finish top of the group.

There is also a new favourite in the fight to be top goalscorer after Czech midfielder Borek Dockal scored two brilliantly taken goals against Ukraine to assume odds of [4.0]. Welbeck meanwhile has overtaken Daniel Sturridge as England's primary contender at [6.0] and Spain's Bojan Krkic has drifted to [12.5] after starting as a substitute.

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