England Under-21s have secured their place in the semi-finals of the European Under-21 Championships with a 2-0 win over Spain Under-21s.

With Germany having earlier moved top of the group after beating Finland 2-0, manager Stuart Pearce knew his side would regain control with victory over the Spanish.

After a relatively low-key first half, which saw James Milner miss a penalty, Pearce’s men came back out and goals from substitute Fraizer Campbell and Milner saw off their opposition, who now look like joining Finland on the road home.

Campbell, a first-half replacement for the injured Gabriel Agbonlahor, capitalised on some woeful Spanish defending as Mario Suarez’s misplaced pass sent the Manchester United forward through on goal.

He still had work to do, however, as he cut inside Javi Garcia onto his left foot before drilling an unstoppable shot into the bottom corner past the heroic Spanish keeper Andres Sergio Asenjo.

The introduction of Theo Walcott, who was surprisingly left on the bench, galvanised the English youngsters and he was instrumental in Milner’s strike which effectively wrapped up the points.

Walcott used his electric pace to beat the Spanish defence down the left flank before squaring for Milner, who made amends for his earlier miss, as he thumped the ball past Asenjo.

It was just the response Pearce wanted from Walcott, and Franco Baldini, who was scheduled to attend, will probably send a glowing report back to England boss Fabio Capello.

Pearce will be praised as well because his youngsters are now in the semi-finals, with a Group B match against Germany to spare.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who was strongly opposed to his youngster travelling to Sweden after representing the seniors against Kazakhstan and Andorra, cannot complain either as Walcott has only played 75 minutes in the tournament so far.

Pearce battled to keep Walcott in his squad, dismissing fears of burn-out ahead of next year’s World Cup, but then responded by removing the highest-profile player of the tournament after a quiet 45 minutes against Finland.

“Reputations and being well-known count for nothing,” Pearce said on the eve of the finals, and he kept his word by replacing Walcott with Middlesbrough winger Adam Johnson against Spain.

Pearce’s attitude is that players may have to “fall on their sword” for the good of the team, so Walcott started on the bench and Mark Noble retained the captaincy despite the return of Nedum Onuoha from a thigh complaint to replace suspended Michael Mancienne.

As he admits himself, Pearce is still learning as a manager and his decision not to train at the ground almost cost his youngsters an early goal.

Onuoha over hit a backpass, misjudging the pace of the turf, with Joe Hart racing back and clearing on the line. Even then, it required England to hack away as the Spaniards closed in.

Hart also sent a clearance along the floor straight to Javi Martinez, a possible Manchester City target, but the Spain midfielder could not direct his finish. Milner’s crosses appeared England’s most likely route to goal.

The Aston Villa midfielder put one on Agbonlahor’s head which got deflected over, then from the corner Onuoha and Martin Cranie had close-range efforts blocked.

Milner earned and took England’s penalty just after the half-hour mark. Spain lost possession in their own half and Johnson fed through Milner, who twisted his way past Javi Garcia before getting brought down.

It was a well-struck penalty but Sergio Asenjo was down sharply to his right to palm away.

Worse was to follow for England as Agbonlahor had to be taken off six minutes before the break but it was Campbell, not Walcott, who came on.

Hart had a rush of blood to the head 10 minutes after the restart, racing out to meet Martinez even though there was little danger.

The Spain midfielder rolled the ball towards goal and Cranie was needed to clear off the goal line.

There were jeers when Barcelona’s Bojan Krkic was taken off for Diego Capel just before the hour mark, with two of the biggest stars of the tournament on the bench at that stage.

That lasted until the 62nd minute, when Walcott was introduced for Johnson.

Five minutes later, England were ahead.

Milner won the ball in Spain territory and poked the ball through for Campbell, who cut inside Garcia before planting his finish in the bottom corner.

Smoke then came out of the stand at the end Campbell scored in, but the situation appeared to be in control.

Pearce danced down the touchline when Walcott set up the second goal, racing behind the Spain defence by outpacing Garcia, then cutting the ball back for Milner to smash home.

The only sour point was Milner’s late booking, which rules him out of the Germany game although it did appear as though the Villa man knew what he was doing.

Pearce has defended his decision to leave Theo Walcott on the bench in the wake of the winger’s second half demolition of Spain Under-21s.

Walcott’s introduction in the second half of the Group B clash prompted an explosion of life into the team as England opened the scoring just five minutes after he replaced Adam Johnson.

“I felt with the game going to be being stretched in the second half he’d have an impact – he proved me right,” Pearce said after the game.

“But then I know Theo and I know what he’s capable of and little Adam Johnson had done nothing wrong for me.

“He took the sting out of the Spaniards to start with and enabled Theo to come on and put on the virtuoso show that he did.

“I must mention at this stage Theo Walcott’s attitude.

“We spoke before the game about how he answers not being in the starting line up. You know, it’s difficult for him to understand how he’s played for the seniors and then he didn’t start here.

“The only way you answer a managerial team selection is to put in a performance of both attacking and defending that he did and credit to him, but I expected no less from him.”

Arsene Wenger will stay at Arsenal ahead of next season after reports yesterday confirmed that he had held talks with the club. Wenger spent all day talking with Arsenal Chief Executive, Ivan Gazidis, and it emerged that he has stated his commitment to the club.

Wenger was being linked with a summer switch to Real Madrid after admitting that he would be interested in such a project on French television. However, it now appears that Wenger will snub any potential move from Madrid in order to stay at Arsenal and continue his attempts to restructure a club that was once so dominant.

This is big news and should inspire all at the Emirates to start putting in a bigger effort in order to recreate the golden age Arsenal dominated at the start of the 21st century. Wenger has been in charge at Arsenal for 13 years and there were echoes coming out of the club that it was maybe time for him to move on, as he had not won a trophy for four of those years.

There really is no one better to manage the current crop of players at Arsenal and no one understands their capabilities and what they are trying to achieve better than the Frenchman. He has been complimented for a number of years as having the best football brain in the game and when he gets his side right there is not another team in the world that can get close to them.

Hopefully this show of commitment will be met by a growing ambition to go and make big strides in the summer transfer market. It is clear that Arsenal are lacking in one or two key areas and will have to spend some big money to get quality in. Wenger knows how to use this cash wisely, he is very shrewd but for now he needs to drop his approach to youth and buy in some talented experience.

Many players currently playing for Arsenal e.g. Andrey Arshavin, have stated that they only ever considered a move to the club because of the manager and the gifted way that his side try to play football. Arshavin himself is living proof of the fact that if you do spend a few million (15 in this case) then it can pay off, the Russian has been arguably the club’s best player in the later stage of the season.

There is no substitute for quality and experience, as displayed in a managerial sense or in a playing sense. If Arsenal were going to let Wenger leave then it could potentially be a longer time until they won their next trophy as opposed to if he stays. He has all the tools, Arsenal fans just need to hang on and be a little patient for a little longer.

Arsenal as a football club and a community need to take this news and drive on, taking it as the first positive in a new era. Time and time again managers have to break apart squads and build new ones and this could be the very early sign that something special could develop in North London once again.

Arsenal may well be a side full of promise but when oh when are they going to start to deliver?

This was just one of the questions posed following their comprehensive defeat in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United.

Was it really a semi-final? The Arsenal fans who started to leave the Emirates Stadium after the Red Devils slotted home their second within eleven minutes certainly didn’t think so.

Afterwards, of course, manager Arsene Wenger was full of apologies for the huge disappointment. It’s unlikely that his loyal followers will turn their back on him but the vultures are already starting to circle and crowing for real rewards. This is the fourth consecutive season without any silver-ware and Arsenal’s memories of lifting the 2005 FA Cup are rapidly fading.

Going into the second leg with a 0-1 deficit, Arsenal were still full of hope that they could score and at least force extra time or penalties. But the huge gap between Manchester United’s solid, experienced team and the young Gunners was just too wide. Manchester United were dominant and magnificent and had Fergie jumping off the bench for joy on three occasions. The man leading the way was Cristiano Ronaldo, described by his boss afterwards as “simply magnificent”.

Granted, Arsenal were unlucky. In only the eighth minute of play, defender Kieran Gibbs slipped, allowing the South Korean captain Ji-Sing Park to slot home the ball. It was a cruel blow for Arsenal but more was to follow. Just three minutes later, a cracking 50-yarder from Ronaldo made it 2-0 to Manchester United and effectively sealed Arsenal’s fate. Liverpool may well be the come-from-behind specialists but there were few who harboured any belief that Arsenal could score four goals.

Park’s goal was his first for Manchester United in Europe but, by contrast, Ronaldo’s 11th minute blaster took his tally for the season to 25, a brilliant achievement given he was injured for some of it. Ronaldo’s free kick came from a soft foul but the referee awarded Manchester United the advantage and gave the fed-up Arsenal fans a chance to catch the early train home.

Ironically, Manchester United hadn’t actually beaten Arsenal at the Emirates in their last few encounters but all that changed in the first eleven minutes of the game. Wenger sat looking bewildered as United ran riot around his young team. We know they can play some beautiful football when given the chance but United were simply dominant and ruthless. Some felt Arsenal’s goal-keeper Almunia should have saved Ronaldo’s long-range shot but it dipped and span and he was probably out-sighted by his own wall until it was just too late.

Coming back after the interval,. Arsenal looked no better and had to endure the lethal combination of Rooney and Ronaldo, with the latter making no mistake with Rooney’s cross setting up Ronaldo for his second and Manchester United’s third. Game over. Manchester United were through to the Champions League final in Rome on May 27.

As always, there was a twist in the tale as Darren Fletcher picked up a red game for allegedly fouling Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas in the box. The penalty was slotted home by Robin van Persie to give Arsenal a consolation goal. There was huge disappointment for Fletcher who misses his dream of the final, undeservedly so as he went for the ball, not the player. There is, of course, no right of appeal which, as one of the commentators rightly complained, is ridiculous given you have a right of appeal if you got a parking ticket outside the ground!

Manchester United will make history if they successfully defend their Champions League trophy in Rome and Sir Alex Ferguson is just the man to do it.

Arsenal meantime are re-grouping and pondering experience over potential and youth. Just how long do the Gunners have to wait until that promise bears fruit?