Fright and defeat. Spainwho conceded a goal in the second minute, fixed it by beating Northern Ireland 5-1 this Saturday in Mallorca in their last friendly match in preparation for Euro 2024 (June 14-July 14).
‘La Roja’, European champion in 2008 and 2012, arrives full of confidence with a second ‘little hand’ in a week, after its 5-0 victory against its modest neighbor Andorra on Wednesday, seven days before its entry into competes against Luka Modric’s Croatia.
Luis de la Fuente’s men, surprised with a header from Northern Irish defender Ballard (2), equalized with a right-footed shot from outside the area by Pedri (12), who returned to the national team in this concentration for the first time since the World Cup. -2022.
The Spanish team’s machine was definitely put into motion and the goals were falling under the warm night of the Mediterranean island.
The second goal was a clear example of the combination of youth and experience in the team. Lamine Yamal, 16, opened for Sevilla veteran Jesús Navas, 38, who placed a perfect cross on the head of captain Álvaro Morata (18).
In a similar action but from the other side, Ahletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams left his marker behind and gave the pass back for Pedri to score the double (29).
Lamine Yamal, which is posited as the main threat to Spain In the Euro Cup, he took over and offered two new goals to Fabián Ruiz (35) and Mikel Oyarzabal (60e).
– ‘Very happy, satisfied’ –
“The truth is that in general terms we are very happy with how the planning that we had established has gone, the games have been what we expected, and beyond the collective benefit we were looking for the improvement of players on an individual level (…) we are satisfied ”De la Fuente congratulated himself.
Spain They will face Croatia, Italy and Albania in group B, considered ‘the group of death’.
Croatia, led by Luka Modric, who will be the first rival of Spain in Euro 2024, they beat Portugal 2-1 hours before at the National Stadium, near Lisbon.
The Croatians opened the scoring through Modric, who did not miss the penalty in the 8th minute of the game. In the second half, the Seleçao, led by Roberto Martínez, returned the tie to the scoreboard with a goal from Diogo Jota (48), but the relief was short-lived as the Cuadriculada took the lead again through Osasuna forward Ante Budimir (56 ).
Croatia had just defeated North Macedonia 3-0, while Portugal had beaten Finland 4-2.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who arrived at the Portugal camp on Friday, did not have playing time this Saturday, but in principle he will participate in the third and final preparation friendly, against Ireland on Tuesday in Aveiro (northwest).
Another team destined to go far in the Euro Cup, Belgium, beat Luxembourg 3-0 with a double from its striker Romelu Lukaku.
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