Germany cruised to a snug 3-0 victory towards Slovenia of their opening recreation of the European U21 Championship courtesy of a Nick Woltemade hat-trick.
The highly-rated Stuttgart ahead, who made his debut for the senior German aspect simply earlier this month and whose inventory continues to rise, discovered the web twice within the first-half earlier than including a 3rd from the penalty spot within the 82nd minute to provide his workforce three factors of their opening match.
The 23-year-old bagged a hat-trick in Germany U21’s final outing towards Spain and he maintained his deadly type in entrance of aim right here as England’s Group B rivals ran out convincing winners.
It was the most important margin of victory within the event to this point and established Germany as critical contenders to take the Three Lions crown.
Nick Woltemade IMMEDIATELY places himself on the prime of the Golden Boot race with a first-match hat trick 😤#DFB #GermanFootball #GermanYNT
📸 Thomas Böcker/DFB pic.twitter.com/VesKJ8AWe8
— German Soccer (@DFB_Team_EN) June 12, 2025
Elsewhere, Group D bought underway in thrilling vogue with Ernest Poku rescuing some extent for the Netherlands deep into second-half stoppage time of their conflict with Finland.
Casper Terho and Topi Keskinen gave Finland a two-goal benefit going into the break earlier than the Oranje staged a valiant comeback after the restart.
Luciano Valente halved the deficit on the hour mark and Poku accomplished the revival, discovering the web within the 93rd-minute to make sure each side took a share of the spoils.
In the meantime, Denmark bought their marketing campaign off to a profitable begin with a 3-2 victory over Ukraine.
Nazar Voloshyn opened the scoring after 22-minutes however the recreation actually got here to life after an hour when Clement Bischoff levelled for the Scandinavians.
Maksym Braharu restored Ukraine’s lead with 12-minutes to go however objectives from William Boving and William Osula turned the tie on its head to provide the Danes an necessary three factors.
