Spain Under-21s have been made to work hard for a 1-0 win against Serbia Under-21s this evening, seeing them through to the semi-final stage of U21 Euro 2017 with a perfect record.
The tournament favourites, who were into the final four regardless of tonight's outcome, earned the three points through a Denis Suarez strike late in the first half.
Serbia were reduced to 10 men soon after through a red card shown to Uros Djurdjevic, though they battled hard for the remainder to restrict their second-string opponents to just the one goal at the Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak Stadium.
Spain boss Albert Celades made 11 changes to his side for this dead-rubber, so it would not have come as too much of a surprise to see his side struggle for any sort of rhythm early on.
Serbia created the better chances prior to falling behind, in fact, with Milos Veljkovic missing the best of the lot four minutes in when lifting the ball over the bar from three yards out.
Djurdjevic tested Pau Lopez - one of six Spain players to be given their first taste of the tournament, two of whom were making their debut at this level - with a scuffed attempt, before doing likewise from a little further back soon after.
The Partizan Belgrade product found himself in a promising position with half an hour played, but decided against shooting and instead looked for Andrija Zivkovic alongside him, only to overhit the pass.
The wasted openings would come back to haunt the Young Eagles as Spain finally began to grow into the contest, creating a chance for Carlos Soler which the Valencia man failed to take when up against Filip Manojlovic.
Borja Mayoral then tried conning the referee to win a penalty, though Spain did not have to wait too much longer to make the breakthrough in Bydgoszcz.
Inaki Williams and Alvaro Odriozola linked up down the right for the latter to tee up Suarez, who made no mistake in picking his spot from close range.
Soler should have added a quick-fire second, somehow missing from just a few yards out when the ball was fizzed towards him, but Serbian hopes were crushed seconds later after Djurdjevic was shown a second yellow for elbowing his opponent.
It looked like being a case of just how many Spain could score in the second half, with Suarez denied from adding a quick second after the restart by a big Manojlovic stop.
Serbia, who gave Portugal a real run for their money in their opening Group B fixture, were having to work overtime at the back as Spain continued to dominate possession.
Williams saw a couple of opportunities come and go in the space of 60 seconds, initially heading wide from a right-sided cross and then being thwarted by Manojlovic following a poor first touch when clean through.
Suarez did more than enough to force his way into Celades's thinking for a semi-final start, but he perhaps should have tucked away 65 minutes in after wriggling free and getting a shot on goal - Manojlovic again equal to it.
The Young Eagles certainly did not roll over, however, sticking to their task throughout the remainder and coming close to scoring an unlikely equaliser through Nemanja Maksimovic's on-target attempt.
Both teams came even closer to registering late on, only for Manojlovic and Lopez to produce fantastic stops at either end to keep out Borja and Zivkovic respectively.
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