U21 head for Portugal

Gibraltar’s Under 21 depart to play against Portugal early this morning. The Under 21 squad will first be heading to a training camp to prepare for the match before they continue on their way to play Portugal’s U21 on Thursday in the UEFA European Under 21 Championship qualifying group stage.
The UEFA European Under-21 Championship is a biennial football competition contested by the European men’s under-21 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Italy and Spain are the most successful teams in this competition, having won five titles each. Spain are also the current champions.
Gibraltar have been drawn in the same group as Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Cyprus and Belarus.
Already Gibraltar’s young players have faced defeat having lost their first two matches. The first against Cyprus saw them lose by the narrowest of margins, losing 1-0.
They were, however, to face their biggest defeat at the hands of Belarus where they conceded ten. The final result 10-1.
Gibraltar next plays Portugal with Netherlands and Norway also to play against.
The group has only seen two matches being played, both of which have included Gibraltar.
The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying competition determine the 14 teams joining the automatically qualified co-hosts Hungary and Slovenia in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final tournament.
The Gibraltar U21 have been training these past weeks with some players already having had the opportunity to play senior competitive football prior to heading for Portugal. The squad was not expected to have several players available to travel with them prior to the match including Jaylan Hankin who was understood to be committed with his club in Spain, having just joined this summer.