Propelled from the start by Lamine Yamal on the day of his first anniversary with the national team, rewarded with a goal in the quality of Fabián, who scored a double, and the sweet taste of a rout after an exercise in resistance in numerical inferiority with a decisive contribution from the bench by Ferran Torres, Spain recovered its lethal identity from the Euro Cup to beat Switzerland at home.
Spain regained its brilliance in a potato field, imposing the joy and verticality of its football that led it to success in Germany, displaying its striking ability with two goals that left behind the impotence felt in Belgrade, when one move marked the match. Embolo, who drove the defence crazy with every move, was brought down in a struggle with Le Normand when he was heading towards his meeting with David Raya. Despite the fact that the centre-back touched the ball low, the initial grab was enough for the referee to show a red card that changed the situation.
Until then, the beauty of the match, the pace of both teams, was not typical of this stage of the season. Rodri regained control of Spain and despite being far from being in good physical condition in his first match since being injured in the Euro final, his presence simply increased the balance and security.
The rain did not help to improve the poor condition of the pitch, but Spain recovered its joy to the rhythm of its wingers. The day marked one year since Lamine Yamal’s debut, an appearance that changed the reality of the national team. He invented the first goal when Joselu had already warned that there was a number 9 to finish. He feinted with a left-footed cut and with no time for the defender to react, he invented a right-footed pass to the head of the striker. Kobel’s sterile stretch took the ball out already inside his goal.
There was no better news for the start of the duel between the two teams that played the best football in the Euros than scoring quickly, but the offensive dynamism was not accompanied by defensive security. Spain lacked firmness. They were hurt with little and after seven minutes they were saved from equalising by the VAR. Embolo warned Le Normand that he was faster than him in the race and his pass from death was sent into the net by Omeragic, unmarked. A handball from Freuler to stop Yamal’s dribble at the start of the counterattack left him with an initial scare.
Spain was attracted by the exchange of blows. Deep flanks with the introduction of Grimaldo as one of the four substitutions for Luis de la Fuente, who tried his luck with a long-range shot. When he was able to run, he always created danger with the daggers Yamal and Nico Williams who cut back with his backheel, shot low and the goalkeeper’s rebound was a sweet treat for Fabián to score the second.
Spain was on display against a rival that never lost face in the game. Not even with such important absences as its key player Xhaka. Thus, Le Normand was sent off in a frenetic first half, then a foul on the crossbar by Amdouni, another near the top corner by Omeragic. De la Fuente was forced to bench Pedri to bring on Vivian, who was quick to beat Embolo.
Spain still had hopes of surprising when they were able to find a counterattack with the threat of Yamal, who found Kobel’s stretch in his cross shot in a move that could have reduced the suffering that followed. Akanji saved another move by Carvajal culminated with a shot by Joselu on the rebound. The last Spanish message of the first half because Switzerland, after a great save by David Raya, found a well-deserved reward.
The Spanish were repeatedly marking in set pieces. In the 41st minute, after a corner kick in which Embolo exploited his superiority over Carvajal at the first post, he headed in an open shot for Amdouni to appear at the second post. The second half promised to be exciting.
And again, as happened in every Euro Cup match, De la Fuente made the right changes. He risked setting the balance at half-time with Yamal in order to increase the defensive support with the introduction of Ferran Torres. Spain was not interested in the back-and-forth in a match in which they lost possession, a fact that stopped being news when they changed it for strength.
The team began an exercise in endurance without suffering excessively. With a scare in the 58th minute when the equaliser came, of course from a dead ball in a lapse that ended with Vivian trying to block a shot that went into his goal. They were saved by the vision of the linesman who saw how the trajectory of the corner kick crossed the goal line.
The Spanish team improved its defensive performances and did not allow a single shot to its rival. It focused on defending, confident that with time the opportunity to counterattack would appear, and Ferran Torres played a stellar role in this to reward the commitment in a very tiring match.
There were thirteen minutes left when his run, full of faith, found the same in a midfielder like Fabián, who had the strength to reach the opponent’s area and finish with a quality left foot, sending Swiss hopes to the canvas. Three minutes later, Ferran extended his great international numbers by scoring the fourth in another transition in which he handled well the one-on-one with the goalkeeper to seal the rout.
. Technical sheet:
1 – Switzerland: Kobel; Wüthrich, Akanji, Ricardo Rodríguez (Rieder, m.62); Omeragic, Zakaria (Sierro, m.62), Freuler, Aebischer (Monteiro, m.76); Amdouni, Vargas (Steffen, m.85) and Embolo (Duah, m.76).
4 – Spain: David Raya, Dani Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Grimaldo; Rodri (Zubimendi, m.59), Fabián (Aleix García, m.82), Pedri (Vivian, m.28); Lamine Yamal (Ferran Torres, m.46), Nico Willians (Yeremy Pino, m.59) and Joselu.
Goals: 0-1, m.4: Joselu. 0-2, m.13: Fabián Ruiz. m.41: 1-2: Amdouni. 1-3, m.77: Fabián. 1-4, m.80: Ferran Torres.
Referee: Irfan Peljto (Bosnia). He showed yellow cards to Vargas (18), Freuler (52) and Wuthrich (53) for Switzerland; and to Ferran Torres (70) and Carvajal (70) for Spain. He sent off Le Normand with a direct red card after 20 minutes.
Incidents: Match corresponding to the second day of Group A of the Nations League, played at the Stade Geneva in front of 26,265 spectators.
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