Everything works for Spain, it doesn’t matter whether they appear with the usual eleven or with the reserve team. Travel in a balloon without encountering turbulence. After closing his pass to the round of 16 that will be played next Sunday in Cologne, he allowed himself to refresh the first platoon and give flight to the secondary squad. This is how he said goodbye to Sylvinho’s Albania from the Euro Cup, which had held the pulse in the group of death against Italy and Croatia and ended up celebrating with his stands his second appearance in the tournament, which closed by pushing Spain, one of the main favorites. , to defend themselves from the final charge commanded by Broja. But that was also endured by La Roja, who closed the group stage without picking up a single ball from their net.
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Thomas Strakosha, Iván Balliu, Arlind Ajeti, Berat Djimsiti, Mario Mitaj, Kristjan Asllani, Ylber Ramadani, Nedim Bajrami, Jasir Asani, Qazim Laçi, Rey Manaj, Armando Broja (Rey Manaj, min. 58), Medon Berisha (Qazim Laçi, min. 69), Arbër Hoxha (Nedim Bajrami, min. 69) and Ernest Muçi (Jasir Asani, min. 80)
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David Raya, Aymeric Laporte, Dani Vivian, Álex Grimaldo, Jesús Navas, Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal, Ferran Torres, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, Joselu, Robin Le Normand (Aymeric Laporte, min. 45), Fermín López (Mikel Oyarzabal, min. 61), Lamine Yamal (Ferran Torres, min. 70), Álvaro Morata (Joselu, min. 71) and Álex Baena (Dani Olmo, min. 83)
Goals
0-1 min. 12: Ferran Torres
Referee Glenn Nyberg
Nedim Bajrami (min. 65), Medon Berisha (min. 88), Daniel Vivian (min. 89)
In this Euro Cup, Spain has become a kind of generator that causes distortions in those teams that cross its field of action. He put Croatia through the crusher, and left the doubt floating as to whether the chess match would no longer be what it was before, just a year and a half ago, for example, when it finished third in the World Cup in Qatar. He then destroyed Italy, champion in 2021, third in last year’s Nations, and it was thought that Spalletti’s new project had vanished before it began to take shape. Then Albania approached and, with the classification already closed, Luis de la Fuente dismantled the invention and put together another one with different parts. Only Laporte repeated in the eleven, retired at halftime so as not to accumulate too much. Disassembling the machine and reassembling it, the effect turned out to be the same.
The courageous Albania, which had taken the lead against Italy with the earliest goal in the history of the Euro Cups, and which had taken the lead again against Croatia in the second match, took 44 minutes to shoot the first time at Raya, who stretched and scared away the danger. Silvinho’s team attacked the game with the same courage as the other times, driven by an effervescent crowd that celebrated every steal of the ball in the first moments. They, many more than the Spaniards, also sensed promise in the initial rush, while Mikel Merino asked for calm.
Spain’s trouble did not last under the Balkan roar. Little by little he was working with Zubimendi and Merino, partners in the Royal Society. But Albania still held on with the lines very close together, almost all the troops squeezed into a narrow strip of less than 20 meters. The match was aimed at heading towards another of those desperate nights in which La Roja seems trapped in a handball training session, ball here, ball there. Until Jesús Navas, captain in Düsseldorf, the last survivor of the World Cup in South Africa, got tired. He took out one of those centers that look like they were spit out by a crossbow that barely requires arming. Strakosha responded to Merino’s header.
It was the first sign that the disorder had begun. The Albanians no longer rocked so together. And then Dani Olmo appeared, a clairvoyant seeker in the inhospitable spaces between the lines of the Albanian tangle. In the brief relief of a moment of imbalance, he controlled, turned and left a gift for Ferran Torres behind the defense. The Barça player arrived on time for the delivery and scored by crossing the shot to the base of the right post.
Albania’s seams were beginning to open, but there was something more than resistance in its script. In the center of the field, Asllani, from Inter Milan, a guy with good feet and clear ideas, found a way to organize some attacks that were not at all desperate. They had that route and also that of Bajrami, a career agitator. Or with the passes that aimed to find Manaj up front, who fought with Laporte and Vivian. The Athletic centre-back, the last of the Spaniards to try the Euro Cup, left the impression of having been playing everything. He was not worthy, far from it.
The Balkan flashes barely tickled. Not a shot. Even the stands seemed to deflate. Meanwhile, Spain accumulated aimless approaches, almost always based on inventions by Olmo, who found space in that traffic jam.
It seemed inevitable that the goals would fall, but Albania held on. Not only that. He still had gunpowder for a second assault. After having him dance closely with the centre-backs for an hour, Silvinho removed the buoyant Manaj from the field. He had reserved in the bedroom the talent of Broja, the Chelsea striker on loan at Fulham, an Englishman with Balkan roots hunted by Albania, like the Girona native Iván Balliu of Rayo Vallecano.
The movement caught Spain on the downside and Broja immediately found space to test Raya. La Roja had relinquished control of the match and the Arsenal goalkeeper began to have work to do. Mitaj and Asllani tried their luck and the Albanian stands revived, for which a robbery and a run were enough to catch on.
De la Fuente reacted by sending Fermín, Morata, Baena and Lamine Yamal onto the field, who transformed the first ball that came to him into a pipe. He gives off fantasy almost without meaning to. Albania suffered a couple of blows, but kept their efforts to tie and forced Spain to retreat, defend themselves and trust in Raya. Broja found a ball in the small area and the goalkeeper grabbed the shot. Spain closed the first phase without picking up a single ball from its net, and leaving all rivals unrecognizable, even with the second unit, a promising sign of command.
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