Spain beat Italy in a dreaded 1986 final

Spain's U21 national team demonstrated to their seniors that they could get past the quarter final stage. The Spaniards had already been knocked out of this stage in a penalty shootout against Belgium. 

On this occasion Spain's U21 squad faced Italy in a difficult and equalizing final, which ended 3-3. This then led to an additional set of extra time, where neither team managed to get the ball at the back of the net. The trophy would have been decided on spot kicks, the first time in the ten year history of the tournament, but since there was no change in the scoreboard, a dreaded penalty shoot out was the result. Spain had not had much luck with  penaliteis in the past years and Italy was proving to be a hard team to beat. 

In the end, Spain was victorious.  The team, coached byy Luis Suárez Miramontes, won their first ever Under 21 trophy.  To get to this stage the team had to be first of the group which also featured Scotland and Iceland.  The end stages of the tournament proved to be tough too, with matches against France, where Spain won 3-1 in both legs.