The qualification play-offs for the biennial European Under-21 Championships began on Thursday evening with wins for two Chelsea players.
The sides that finished winners or runners-up in an earlier group stage were drawn for a round of two-legged ties to decide which will go forward to the Finals in Israel in June.
Oriol Romeu played for Spain in a comprehensive 5-0 first-leg victory at home to Denmark, Benfica’s Rodrigo scoring the first four goals. The Danish Under-21 side contained two players who faced Chelsea for Nordsjaelland last week – striker Anders Christiansen and Andreas Laudrup, who as in Copenhagen came on in the second half.
Jeffery Bruma, currently on loan at Hamburg, helped the Netherlands Under-21 side into a strong position too. The Dutch beat Slovakia 2-0 away. The second legs are next week.
Also in action on Thursday were Scotland Under-19s, playing their second game in a four-team qualification tournament for next summer’s European Under-19 Championship in Lithuania.
The Scots, playing at home, won 1-0 against Romania with Islam Feruz playing 81 minutes. Alex Davey, who suffered a hamstring strain that kept him out of the first game, also a win, was not involved again.