Spain has still not won a match at the European Championship. After the draw in the first group match against Sweden (0-0), the three-time European champion drew again on Saturday evening. In Sevilla, the game against Poland ended in 1-1. “It was just bad,” captain Jordi Alba said after the game la Roja in southern Spain. “We have to keep believing in it. Everything can still turn out fine.”
Thanks to the 1-0 victory over Slovakia, Sweden now leads Group E. Spain is in third place with two points, Poland is last in the group. Both countries still have prospects for the next round. “I still have faith in it,” emphasized the left defender of Barcelona. “We fought to the end today to score the winning goal. However, we failed to take advantage of the opportunities. Yes, we are under pressure now. But we’re not going to doubt ourselves.”
Spain must beat Slovakia on Wednesday to keep their place in the eighth finals in their own hands. “For us, the knockout phase is actually already starting,” concluded Pau Torres. “That’s how we should approach the game against Slovakia. I still believe in this team. We have enough quality.” Luis Enrique found it difficult to immediately indicate where exactly it had gone wrong. “I look forward to analyzing everything in detail again. We were the parent squad, but it just wasn’t good enough tonight. I expected more from it,” the Spain national coach said afterwards.
As the winner of Group C, the the Dutch is already certain of the eighth finals at the European Championship. The Netherlands will meet the number three from Group D, E or F and that could just be Spain. Rafael van der Vaart is anything but impressed by Spain’s form and hopes to meet with the the Dutch squad. “Let’s hope so. Whistling on, really. I really think Spain is a horror, Jesus. . . There’s actually nothing in it,” the former footballer of Real Madrid, among others, analyzed at the NOS.
“It’s a bit of playing around, but no one is willing or able to give that decisive ball. It’s probably ‘can’. Disappointing, really.” Van der Vaart was also critical of Aymeric Laporte, who could not prevent Robert Lewandowski from heading in the equalizer. “He went to Manchester City for sixty, seventy million. These amounts for these players nowadays, it’s really insane. This isn’t defending, is it?”
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