PressSplit
(sid). Spain celebrates its European champions in the Nations League, Cristiano Ronaldo scores at will. The Netherlands, on the other hand, are annoyed with the referee – Switzerland is annoyed with itself.
Homecoming: All eyes were on Alvaro Morata. At the first home game after the European Championship triumph, the striker, who this week made public his battle with depression and panic attacks shortly before the finals in Germany, presented the silver trophy to the fans in Murcia in the game against Denmark. It was still possible to celebrate afterwards, even if late. In the end the score was 25:3, but it wasn’t until the 79th minute that Martin Zubimendi scored the winning goal with the kind help of Kaspar Schmeichel: the Danish goalkeeper let the deflected volley slip under his stomach. Thanks to the victory, the European Championship champions took over the lead from the Danes in Group A4.
3 TIMES 3 MAKES 9: Cristiano Ronaldo is simply insatiable. With his save and the third goal in the third Nations League game, the 39-year-old captain led his Portuguese to an easy 3-1 win against Poland and thus also won the goalscoring duel with Robert Lewandowski. With the full score of nine points, Ronaldo and Co. can secure a place in the quarter-finals against Scotland on Tuesday in Glasgow.
Referee frustration: “This moment was frustrating. I don’t understand it,” said bond coach Ronald Koeman, annoyed after the 1-1 draw against Hungary about the sending off of his captain Virgil van Dijk, who will therefore miss the Netherlands in the classic against Germany in Munich on Monday. The frustration was primarily aimed at referee Lukas Fähndrich: After a rude foul on Dortmund’s Donyell Malen, van Dijk called for red for Hungarian Attila Fiola and was shown a yellow card for complaining. Just three minutes later, the Liverpool player had to leave the pitch after a foul (79′). After all: Denzel Dumfries (83rd) saved the Elftal a point in the final phase when they were outnumbered, Roland Sallai (32nd) had previously given the hosts the lead.
Pressure: Booed, booed and falling apart: there was also a lot of frustration among the Swiss. After the 2-0 defeat in Serbia, the Swiss are in last place in the Spain group with zero points. On Tuesday against Denmark, after this “scary kick,” as the national press called it, they were now “brutally challenged,” said BVB keeper Gregor Kobel. In addition to bad luck, there was also incompetence: First Gladbach’s Nico Elvedi hit his own goal with a deflected free kick (45th + 1), a few minutes after Aleksandar Mitrovic made it 2-0 (61st), Breel Embolo miserably missed the goal from the penalty spot .
