Spain have undoubtedly been the stand-out side in this summer’s European U21 Championship, and in Tuesday’s semi-final clash with Italy, Atletico Madrid midfielder Saúl Ñíguez netting a sweet hat-trick.
All the goals came in the second-half, with Níguez opening the scoring on 53 minutes, via a smart finish after a trademark passing move.
Italy were dealt a blow just before the hour-mark when Roberto Gagliardini was sent off for a second yellow after kicking out at Dani Ceballos.
However, the Italians still managed to back on level terms soon after, courtesy of Federico Bernardeschi’s deflected shot.
It didn’t take long for Spain to restore their lead, with the 22-year-old Ñíguez netting a stunning 30-yard rocket.
Real Betis midfielder Ceballos was superb throughout, and even managed to bamboozle his Italian counterparts with this disgusting bit of skill…
Dani Ceballos did THIS against Italy tonight, he has a release clause of JUST £13.2m 😳🇪🇸pic.twitter.com/wRMKwTpmCL
— Ben (@LFC_NEW5) June 27, 2017
On 74 minutes, the Atletico star completed his hat-trick, firing home from Real Madrid winger Marco Asensio’s centre.
With the likes of Níguez, Asensio and Hector Bellerin, Spain’s side is full of top-class performers and this incredibly gifted bunch of players will surely now be confident of beating Germany in the final on Friday.