Spain plays with the security imposed by the shield of the European champion. It doesn’t matter that he is missing several of his most important players. The essence is maintained and the viewer has no reason to complain.
It doesn’t matter if instead of two fast and unbalanced wingers like Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal play Baena and Oyazarbal, two players who look more inward and prefer association to dribbling. And if he plays instead of Morata Ayoze nothing happens either. Nor does anything happen if only three of the starters were also starters in the Euro Cup final.
Everything fits with the naturalness that makes things always work. The confidence of the starters in the Euro Cup extends to the rest. It didn’t take long for Ayoze to prove it with a shot against the post that warned Denmark of what was coming.
AND Oyarzabal confirmed it fifteen minutes into the game. The goal was born from a ball stolen by Merino, because confidence does not make Spanish internationals forget to work, it passed through Ayoze and ended in the shot of Oyarzabal, who was acting as captain for the second time since the beginning.
Spain dominated with the short pass and the combination between its attacking players and the Danes had no choice but to hold on. They tried to get closer to David Raya’s goal, but it was difficult for them.
The Spanish team only needed one point to secure first place in the group and play at home the second leg of the Nations League quarterfinals that will be played in March. But Luis de la Fuente already warned that all parties are important, even if they do not seem so. Because importance is not only measured by victories. Also for the players who join. As Ayoze, who scored the second goal after a pass from Dani Olmo which left him in a position to face Schmeichel. Or like Zubimendi, who gave the pass that started the play for that second goal and who finds the place he didn’t have thanks to Rodri’s injury. Dani Olmo once again demonstrated why all coaches trust him. Finish and pass with the same ease.
The new Villarreal forward justified the trust that De la Fuente has shown himwhich took him to the Eurocup when everyone assumed he was going to be one of the discards from the original list. And he made him play a few minutes against Italy in the first phase. It was his only contribution to the championship, then he was injured and was just another spectator, but De la Fuente knows what to expect from him.
Spain is the European champion and proves it at every moment. By intensity and by game. David Raya barely had to use his hands and when Denmark approached with a little more danger, Isaksen’s shot crashed against the inside of the post. Until the game became another in the last minutes.
So that nothing would escape, De la Fuente put Pedri, Fabián, Morata and Nico Williams on the field. And with them, Marc Casadó, another of those footballers that the coach wants to add to the group. The negative part is that Zubimendi and Baena left injured, because things don’t always go as planned. The Villarreal player left the field crying.
Sometimes things are not as simple as they seem either. The more starters Spain had on the field, the more problems it had against Denmark. But the problems were created by the Spanish players alone. Fabián did not see that Isaksen was close to David Raya when he gave him the ball and the Spanish goalkeeper didn’t have time to clear it. The Danish winger scoredwho at that moment found the enthusiasm that his team was missing.
Isaksen became a torment for Pedro Porro on the right side of the Spanish defense. That’s where the danger came for the Danes, who came close to equalizing in the final moments. Skov Olsen shot from the edge of the area and then David Raya’s hands had to appear to clear a corner. Schmeichel went up to finish it off, but there was David Raya again.
Spain changed its style in the last minutes. With Denmark’s push and faster players up front, they tried to exploit the counterattack. But Nico Williams lacked precision to find Morata.
Spain lacked that third goal that could have given them peace of mind, but they demonstrated other qualities to know how to endure the result that gives them first place in the group.
De la Fuente’s team continues to demonstrate why it is European champion.