The Euro Under-21 Championship has introduced us to some amazing players over the years. Mesut Ozil announced himself at the tournament in 2009 when Germany’s manager described him as ‘the most perfect player he’s ever had’.

Thiago scored a hat-trick in the final in 2013 to help Spain beat Italy. Bernardo Silva also made waves in 2015 when he helped Portugal through to the final while he was a Benfica player on loan at Monaco.

This year we might see some new stars burst onto the scene as England take on Israel and Spain play Ukraine in the semi-finals.

England beat Portugal 1-0 in the quarter-finals after Morgan Gibbs-White linked up with Anthony Gordon to grab his second goal of the tournament.

England are yet to concede a goal in the tournament and having already beaten Israel 2-0 in the group stage they will fancy their chances of reaching the final. But Israel’s young talents have been successful in recent years, with the under 19’s making the Euro finals last year and getting a bronze in the World Cup just a few weeks ago. Some of those under-19 players have now been called up to the Under-21s.

Ukraine also came from behind to beat France to progress and face Spain who are five-time champions. Mudryk won a penalty and assisted another goal for Ukraine to help them complete the comeback and will be hoping to take centre stage when they face Spain.

For Mudryk this competition is about building his confidence back. It’s never easy to come in as a new young star to take the stage and help drive the team forward, and there was so much going on around Chelsea last season that this was a big challenge for him. Now in his national team it’s about bringing his determination, talent and speed to leave an important message that he is ready for next season.

The competition is still seen as development football but you better believe the players all want glory and want to announce themselves on the European stage. Each player knows they are just two games away from a trophy and a chance to show the rest of Europe their abilities. c

These are the moments you play for as a young man to get noticed and liked so you can keep the process of achieving bigger and better goals. #mmlove