England U17s v Spain U17s preview: Steve Cooper's side target European Championship record
Thursday 18 May 2017 18:09, UK
England will be bidding to become the first team to win the European Under-17s Championship for a third time when they face Spain in the final on Friday.
England reached the final in Croatia with a 2-1 win over Turkey while Spain beat Germany on penalties in the other semi-final.
The nations have met twice before in the final, with Spain winning in 2007 and England prevailing in 2010.
England coach Steve Cooper told Sky Sports News HQ that it's "extremely exciting".
"We deserve the opportunity, the boys have played really well this year and put in some excellent performances which they can be proud of and this is another great experience for them," he added.
"Spain have performed really well in the tournament and have beaten Germany and Italy. We have had some tough games as well, so there is no doubt it's two good teams in the final and we just hope that our boys can perform and make it a good spectacle."
England called up Manchester City's Joel Latibeaudiere after Tashan Oakley-Boothe suffered a head injury in the semi-final.
Spain were beaten in the 2016 final on penalties by Portugal and head coach Santi Denia is wary of the threat posed by England.
"England have a complete team and a lot quality that I haven't seen for a while in them," he is quoted as saying by uefa.com. "We have to be strong in attack and defence, be focused and work as a group. This England team demands perfection from us.
"We're focused on how to win this tournament, not what has gone before in previous years. It would be really big for Spain to triumph again and that's what we'll try to do against a very tough side."
