France, Romania into semis at Euro U21 championships, hosts Italy out

Milan (AFP) – A goalless draw was enough to send both France and Romania through to the semi-finals of the European Under-21 championships on Monday as both teams also qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

France finished as the best second-placed team to advance along with group winners Romania, Germany and Spain, sending hosts Italy out of the tournament.

A defeat for France would have sent Italy, who also finished second in their group, into the semis.

Holders Germany meet Romania, who have reached the last four on only their second ever appearance, in Bologna on Thursday.

Spain, who have made three of the last four finals, will play France in Reggio Emilia.

The final takes place at Udine’s Stadio Friuli on Sunday.

Elsewhere, England and Croatia drew 3-3 in San Marino, with both teams already out of semi-final contention.

Reiss Nelson opened the scoring from the spot after 11 minutes for the English with James Maddison and Jonjoe Kenny also netting in the second half.

Josip Brekalo completed a brace for Croatia on 82 minutes having pulled his team level on 39 minutes, either side of a Nikola Vlasic strike.

The four semi-finalists qualify for next year’s Olympics.