This Monday, Spain faces its last match of the group stage against Albania, a team it has faced on numerous occasions in the past: a total of eight matches, where The Red He has always won. However, far from the result, the spotlight will point to Ivan Balliu, the Spaniard who plays with Albania. Although he came to play with the Spanish team in the categories, the defender has been wearing the Albanian shirt for seven years and this Monday he will do so to face some acquaintances from The leaguewhom he has faced throughout the year.
Born in Caldes de Malavella, in Girona, Iván is part of the Rayo Vallecano squad, although his professional career began in the youth ranks of FC Barcelona. However, it was when he was wearing the Metz shirt, in 2017, that he received the call from the Albanian Football Federation. According to statistics, a high number of Albanians have this surname. That made someone in the Federation offices decide to investigate. Although, as detailed Sportit was his father and grandfather who got to the bottom of the matter and discovered that they had background in Albania.
However, Balliu did not set foot in that country until he was called up by the national team and, whether by fate or chance, the first game he played with the Albanian team was against Spain, in a friendly in Alicante that concluded 3-0 for The Red. That was the beginning of Iván’s journey with the Albanian team. A relationship that has been maintained over the years and that has taken him to the Euro 2024where again fate or chance wanted the defender to cross paths with Spain.
The European tournament is not being easy for the Albanian team, which so far has only suffered one defeat against Italy 2-1 and a tie in injury time against Croatia 2-2. Now if they want to continue fighting in the competition and move on to the next phase they need a victory. Winning is the only asset that would allow them to continue dreaming of passing as the best third or even second in the group. It should be noted that, if they managed to beat the Spanish, they would still have to wait to find out what the result is among the other countries in their group.
The player himself explained it in statements to Brand: “We only need to win. It is the only way out we have after the first two games. The game we have to play is part of being very close together and trying to ensure that Spain is not able to find spaces. We don’t have to look at any result other than victory, but we have to read the game well.” The truth is that there are only three hours left until the match begins and the Albanians and the Spanish will jump to the Düsseldorf Arena Stadium, where both will seek victory: Albania to try to advance to the round of 16 and Spain to continue gaining confidence in the competition.
