A bright start from Spain saw Diego Lopez head over in the early exchanges, shortly before curling an effort that struck the arm of Charlie Cresswell, resulting in a penalty award.
However, VAR soon helped overturn the original decision, and England wasted no time in taking full advantage with two quickfire goals. First, an Alex Scott corner wasn’t adequately dealt with, allowing captain James McAtee to react first and prod home the opener.
Just five minutes later, Jarell Quansah’s driving run from midfield went unchallenged, encouraging the centre-back to try his luck and force a save from Alejandro Iturbe that was spilt into the path of a grateful Harvey Elliot for a tap-in.
Iturbe had to be on high alert soon after to cut out Tino Livramento’s cutback, a critical interception that helped ease a period of English dominance. Having re-established a foothold in the contest, Spain were handed a lifeline when Quansah tripped Alberto Moleiro in the box, providing Javi Guerra with the opportunity to halve the deficit with a composed spot-kick.
The interval appeared to arrive at a good time for England, who composed themselves ahead of the second half, looking assured once more as Jay Stansfield saw his deflected shot balloon over after a neat backheel from Omari Hutchinson.
Cresswell then came close to re-establishing his side’s two-goal lead when his header from a corner dropped into the side netting, but Spain remained in the contest and almost equalised via Guerra, who saw two quickfire shots parried away by James Beadle.
With time running out, the Young Lions had a chance to all but secure progression, but Jack Hinshelwood couldn’t direct his unmarked header under the crossbar.
Fortunately for him, that miss ultimately had no bearing on the final outcome, with Jonathan Rowe winning a late penalty that was converted by Elliot Anderson to seal the game.
Now unbeaten in their last eight H2Hs (W5, D3), England have qualified for back-to-back Euro U21 semi-finals for the first time since 2009.
Lee Carsley’s side will face the Netherlands, who shocked Portugal earlier in the day, while Spain’s dreams of a record sixth competition win are now over.
Flashscore Man of the Match: James McAtee (England)