Pejčinović’s brace seals U21 Euros ticket for Germany in front of record crowd

Dženan Pejčinović doubled his tally for Germany U21 as his two goals against Georgia secured a place in the 2027 European Championships for Antonio Di Salvo’s side.

The visitors surprisingly started the duel positively, but Germany found the breakthrough with their first chance of the game in the 10th minute. Pejčinović deflected Noah Darvich’s effort to put the three-time European champions on their way to qualification for the 2027 U21 Euros in Albania and Serbia.

The U17 World Cup and Euros winner was nominated by Antonio Di Salvo for the first time in this international break after his strong performances for Elversberg in Bundesliga, but he later found out the goal was credited to the current Stuttgart star. Paris Brunner was also part of that success in the U17 level, and he came close to doubling Germany’s advantage here with a curling effort before the 20th minute mark.

The 20-year-old was then denied a penalty-kick after his unsuccessful attempt to round off Georgia’s goalkeeper Papuna Beruashvili. The Monaco attacker has been one of the headline makers for Germany U21 in this international window as he scored a first-half brace on his debut against Latvia.

Germany continued to dominate possession, but they weren't able to create enough chances in the final third. Beruashvili denied the captain Nicolo Tresoldi his 11th goal of the qualifying campaign with their best chance before the break.

Georgia showed improvements around the hour mark as SC Freiburg's shot-stopper Mio Bakhaus had to be alert to make some routine saves. With Greece leading Northern Ireland by the same scoreline, Antonio Di Salvo’s side needed to seal the three points to avoid a potential slump.

Pejčinović did that with yet another slice of fortune moments after substitute Arijon Ibrahimović failed to convert an easy chance created by a brilliant backheel from the former Wolfsburg striker. The 21-year-old sealed the win himself with a simple finish after Georgia's defensive mixup presented the opportunity for Tresoldi to spot the unmarked Pejčinović.

Including from the impressive Darvich, Germany had chances to extend the scoreline, but the 2-0 victory was enough for automatic qualification at the expense of Greece, who will now enter the playoffs as they finish narrowly behind Poland in the standings of second-placed teams.

The record for the attendance of a home Germany U21 game was smashed with over 20,000 fans attending today's match in Bielefeld. Germany will now organize two friendlies for the next international break in November as they avoided further qualification games.