The players from the Spanish and English national teams finished last season on 14 July with the final of the European Championship in Berlin. Some of them returned to competition on 14 August, in the final of the European Super Cup. Others a couple of days later, at the start of their leagues. And they are back with their national teams again immediately, a schedule that affects the game, as Luis de la Fuente stressed after Spain’s draw in Serbia in the opening game of the Nations League (0-0): “In the first half we were not accurate. We lacked finesse. We reached close areas and we lacked quality in the final pass. In the second half we were better, but we lacked accuracy in finishing. We lacked that finesse, that freshness. At this stage it is noticeable,” he explained. “On Sunday (against Switzerland in Geneva, 20.45, La1) we will be much better.”
0
Predrag Rajkovic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlović, Strahinja Erakovic, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Ivan Ilić (Stefan Mitrovic, min. 85), Veljko Birmancevic, Sasa Lukic, Jovic (Petar Ratkov, min. 74), Lazar Samardzic (Marko Grujic, min. 74) and Andrija Zivkovic (Kristijan Belic, min. 62)
0
David Raya, Le Normand, Laporte, Dani Carvajal, Cucurella (Grimaldo, min. 56), Martín Zubimendi, Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo (Joselu, min. 82), Fabián (Pedri, min. 76), Nico Williams (Ferrán Torres , min. 81) and Ayoze Pérez (Oyarzabal, min. 56)
Goals
Referee Serdar Gözübüyük
Yellow cards Strahinja Erakovic (min. 4), Ayoze Pérez (min. 21), Dani Carvajal (min. 26), Lamine Yamal (min. 41), Veljko Birmancevic (min. 43), Le Normand (min. 58), Dani Olmo (min. 67) and Kristijan Belic (min. 69)
And he believes that this will be even more the case later on: “The players will gradually pick up their level. At their clubs, above all,” he said. “In October we will talk about something else. In September the footballer is not tired yet, but he is tired from the lack of rhythm. It is a normal, complicated time,” he continued. “It is a match that we could almost say is a pre-season match. The first match after arriving here, with new players, with players in the recovery phase. For us it would be almost a pre-season match. I understand that we all demand a lot from ourselves, and even more so after winning the European Championship.”
After the success in Berlin, De la Fuente took the small setback in Belgrade in stride. He was also convinced that the match could have been changed with a little more of that finesse he spoke of: “In the first half, even though we dominated, we suffered some counterattacks that caused us problems. In the second, we lived in Serbia’s area, knowing that they are an organized team. But if we had scored a goal and forced the opponent to come out, it would have been a different match. They did very well.”
The need for that goal that he believes would have turned the game around also led him to protest, for which he received an unusual yellow card, when Joselu fell in the area after a tackle: “I have to see the images on television, but on the pitch it seemed like a penalty. And for Joselu it was too. But nothing more… It was a play that would surely have changed the game.”
De la Fuente seemed a bit more concerned about the condition of Oyarzabal, who at the end of the match was left on the spot with pain in his left ankle: “He has a very bad ankle sprain. Tomorrow we will see how it evolves and we will do the tests. We hope it is just a sprain.”
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