This morning Newcastle United were linked with Spanish Under 21 captain Abel Ruiz who plays for Braga.
Abel Ruiz led his side out to face England Under 21‘s in the U21 European Championship final tonight, lining up against a potential Newcastle teammate in Anthony Gordon.
It was a pretty nervy final all-in-all which saw Anthony Gordon drift in and out of the game. He caused the Spanish defence some problems early on in the game proving too quick for them to deal with, but his end product was ultimately lacking.
Newcastle target Abel Ruiz had a game he will likely want to forget
England took the lead on the stroke of half-time via a free kick which was followed by some unsavoury scenes on the touchline which resulted in red cards being handed out to a member of each team’s coaching staff.
The second half was pretty much the same story for the most part until the end. Anthony Gordon came off just after the 80 minute mark during a whole raft of changes by both managers.
A Spanish change saw another Newcastle-linked player coming on in the form of Celta Vigo‘s Gabri Veiga giving the Toon Army a chance to see what he could do.
Neither Veiga nor Ruiz looked very impressive as England stood resolute and withstood the Spanish barrage in the final minutes before the Danish referee was summoned to the VAR screen to review a possible penalty in stoppage time. England looked set to be sucker-punched at the end of the game.
The 23-year-old Spain captain and potential Newcastle target Abel Ruiz stepped up to take the spot-kick which was brilliantly saved by James Trafford who then got up to stop a follow up shot before the ball made its way over the bar for a goal kick.
Ruiz had missed a few chances in the match, but as I said when we were linked with the ‘fascinating’ forward, it would be unfair to judge him by just one game. The same goes for Gabri Veiga who mustered just one tame effort at goal with his time on the pitch.
Once again it all kicked off on the touchline and this time each team saw a player red carded by the ref who must have thought he was a croupier the amount of cards he dealt during the game.
Anthony Gordon returns to Newcastle with a winner’s medal
England took the spoils which now means Anthony Gordon gets to return to Newcastle with a winner’s medal. He can compare his to the one Martin Dubravka got last season for being part of the Manchester United side that lifted the Carabao Cup at the expense of Newcastle.
It was fantastic seeing England win in a final, but as a Newcastle fan seeing two players we were linked with fail to do anything of note tinged it just a little, teeny, tiny bit. But all that was forgotten watching Anthony Gordon running full pelt onto the pitch at full time to celebrate with his teammates.
Congratulations, AG!
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