Spain Under-21s 1-1 England Under-21s

Spain Under-21s 1-1 England Under-21s: Late Danny Welbeck equaliser snatches point after controversial Ander Herrera handled goal.

Stuart Pearce's men snatch a late point in Denmark in their opening fixture of the European Championships despite the Spanish dominating possession in the MCH Arena.

England drew 1-1 with Spain in their opening fixture of the 2011 European Under-21 Championships in Denmark after Danny Welbeck's late equaliser.

Despite a positive opening 10 minutes for the Three Lions, Ander Herrera's controversial 13th minute goal following a flick-on from a corner had looked to have won the game for the Spanish.

Two minutes from time, however, Welbeck popped up to equalise from six-yards as Spain's protests for offside were ignored.

Pearce named a perhaps slightly unexpected started XI, with captain Michael Mancienne slotting into the holding midfield role alongside Liverpool new-boy Jordan Henderson in a 4-2-3-1 formation, whilst Spanish boss Luis Milla opted to leave out Barcelona's Bojan Krkic, although included World Cup-winning duo Juan Mata and Javi Martinez.

It was Manchester United-bound David de Gea who found himself in the thick of the action first, with Danny Welbeck unlucky not to capitalise after the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper's loose clearance.

England showed signs of promise, with Daniel Sturridge unlucky not to control and capitalise on Henderson's wonderful through ball over the top of the Spain back line after 10 minutes.

With their first corner of the game, however, Luis Milla's men scored when Martinez's flick-on was met at the back post by Ander Herrera, although replays showed the 21-year-old had handled the ball over the line.

The goal seemingly kicked the Spanish into gear, as they dominated possession and bypassed an at times absent England midfield, only for centre-half Chris Smalling to thwart the creative play of Mata as he successfully snuffed out runs from Jeffren and Lopez respectively.

Spain failed to convert their superior possession into concrete chances, and the pace and creativity of English full-backs Kyle Walker and Ryan Bertrand began to pay dividends towards the end of the half, with the latter's through ball releasing Danny Rose on the left-hand side, whose cross just evaded the head of Welbeck.

England's best chance of the half came in the final minute of stoppage time, with Walker's galloping run down the full length of the pitch completed by a fine low cross from the Tottenham man, which was met by Sturridge, whose deflected effort appeared goalbound only for a superb stretching save from De Gea.

Walker continued to look one of England's most promising outlets, as he routinely exploited space down the right-hand flank, even if at times failing to find quality with his final ball.

Clear-cut chances remained few and far between, and it was not until the hour mark that England keeper Fielding was called into action, pulling off an acrobatic save from Herrera's looping deflected shot.

Martinez met the resulting corner untested, but failed to keep his header on target, with the opposition beginning to struggle to reign in the Athletic Bilbao midfield man, although Smalling was on hand once again five minutes later to block the 22-year-old's effort from the edge of the box.

Boss Stuart Pearce looked to increase the momentum in midfield and replaced Rose and Mancienne with Henri Lansbury and Jack Rodwell respectively with 25 minutes remaining, although despite the changes, Spain reiterated their dominance in possession.

Scott Sinclair was then brought on to replace Tom Cleverley, whilst the Spanish displayed their arsenal from the bench with the introduction of Bojan.

With England looking destined to limp out in defeat, Walker found Welbeck in the box who, despite looking suspiciously offside, swivelled on the penalty spot and found himself free in front of goal before coolly slotting home from six-yards out to secure the point for his side.

The result leaves England and Spain in joint second in Group B following Czech Republic's 2-1 win over Ukraine earlier on Sunday.

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