DUSSELDORF.- New team, same solvency. Although he changed ten players, Spain defeated Albania 1-0 this Monday in Dusseldorf and completed a perfect run in the first round of the Euroin which they already had a place in the round of 16 as first, while Albania was eliminated.
Of the eleven that beat Italy 1-0 in Gelsenkirchen, only center back Aymeric Laporte repeated. But the theoretical substitutes resolved the ballot without hesitation and the goal was signed by Ferran Torres (13).
A Red in a state of grace savors the German summer. All its parts work. It doesn’t matter if you change names or the idea of the game, the “versatility” that your coach Luis de la Fuente boasts is a fact: three victories and no goals conceded in three days.
He is already waiting for a rival in the round of 16, on June 30 in Cologne, but in the meantime he allows himself to dose headlines, confirming that he is not bad in his wardrobe either.
If Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal exhibited open wing play in the first two games, it was Dani Olmo, a knife in the center of the attack, who unbalanced the evening with a ‘candy’ into space that Ferran Torres converted with precision in the second stick.
Now a substitute, but a regular starter during Luis Enrique’s time on the bench, Torres scored his 20th international goal in 44 games, at only 24 years old.
Before, Albania had won the staging. Driven by some 40,000 fans in the stands – 50,000 spectators in the Dusseldorf Arena – and with the smell of gunpowder from the flares, the Eagles came out overexcited, hot to strike the first blow.
The formula had worked for them in the first two games, scoring against Italy after 23 seconds and against Croatia in the 11th minute, although they were not able to manage the advantage (2-1 loss and 2-2 draw).
On this occasion, Albania had to wait until the 45th minute to test David Raya, with a long shot from Kristjan Asllani that the Arsenal goalkeeper resolved with a stretch.
They met expectations:
Without signing a great game, Red B did not want to disappoint the Brazilian Sylvinho. “Spain would be the favorite to win the Euro Cup in the final with its second team,” the Albanian coach said in the preview.
Against a team that did not smell the ball, it was the full-backs who were in charge of widening the game. Captain and legend at 38 years old, Jesús Navas fulfilled the task on the right and the Bayer Leverkusen sensation, Álex Grimaldo, showed his palette on the left.
As number 9, Joselu, the ‘submarine’ of Real Madrid, European champion, was two fingers away from scoring one of the goals of the tournament with a half-turn volley shot after Grimaldo’s cross (47).
Minutes passed and Albania was still alive. Received as a hero at the hour of play, the promising Chelsea striker, Armando Broja, had the last two bullets, resolved by Raya (64 and 90+2).
Thus the flight of the Eagles ended. Once again eliminated in the first round, as in their first participation in the Eurocup eight years ago.
Source: AFP
