Spain finished the Nations League group stage with a 3-2 win over Switzerland, to end up in top spot of Group 4 with 16 points from a possible 18. Luis De la Fuente’s men have not lost a game since last March — a friendly against Colombia in London. In a competitive fixture, Spain’s last defeat was in March 2023 against Scotland at Hampden Park.
This latest victory reflects the current mood in Spain — that this is a team capable of beating any rival even without some of their bigger name players. De la Fuente played something like a B team, with only three players (Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Alvaro Morata) who faced England in the final of Euro 2024 four months ago.
Despite this, the team showed their pride and desire by getting a hard-earned victory over a stubborn opponent.
Spain will be drawn in the quarter-final of the competition against Croatia, Italy or the Netherlands, playing the return leg at home.
The Athletic’s Pol Ballus analyses the main talking points of the game…
Yet more debutants under De la Fuente
Three players played their first game for Spain’s national team last night. Among them was one of the most in-form strikers in Europe: Samu Aghehowa.
His 12 goals in 13 games for Porto this season earned him a senior call-up this week, and he came off the bench at half-time to replace captain Alvaro Morata. The 20-year-old put on a lively display, even if he did not score. Given his obvious potential, and the lack of options up front, he can be sure of more senior minutes in the near future.
Athletic Club’s Aitor Paredes also made his debut, playing the full 90 minutes alongside Barcelona wonderkid Pau Cubarsi at centre back. Paredes was caught off-guard in the action that led to Switzerland’s first goal of the night, scored by Young Boys’ Joel Monteiro. He seems to be fifth when it comes to De la Fuente’s pecking order of central defenders, with injuries to Robin Le Normand and Pau Torres potentially playing a role in his inclusion.
Finally, Atletico de Madrid’s Pablo Barrios featured in a 10-minute cameo at the end of the game. Barrios was promoted from the under-21 after the injuries to Martin Zubimendi and Alex Baena last week.
They all join Barcelona’s Marc Casado, who played in Friday’s win over Denmark, in registering their first senior appearance during this break.
The Bryans make an impact
As the game lost a bit of momentum as the second half wore on, De la Fuente cranked up through the gears and won the game by adding the dynamite duo of Bryan Gil and Bryan Zaragoza to the mix.
Both players were at a crucial moment of their careers in the summer, after underwhelming spells at Tottenham and Bayern Munich respectively. Both have found new leases of life in loans back to La Liga, at Girona and Osasuna, which helped them find a way back to the national team.
Gil pounced on a loose ball in Switzerland’s box and fired home into the bottom corner of Yan Mvogo’s net.
Bryan Gil celebrates scoring Spain’s second of the evening (Gabriel Jimenez/Getty Images)
Switzerland fought back and levelled the score at 2-2 after a careless Fabian Ruiz challenged resulted in a penalty, but there was still time for Bryan Zaragoza to have his say.
Zaragoza had been very active since coming in with 20 minutes to go, but it wasn’t until injury time when he set off on a run from the right-hand side, left three opponents in his wake and was ultimately fouled inside the penalty area. The 23-year-old quickly grabbed the ball to take the spot kick, and did not miss.
With the absence of the injured Lamine Yamal, and with Nico Williams still getting up to his best form, the impact of the Bryans reminded De la Fuente of how dangerous this Spain side became with two in-form wingers ready to prove a point. It would not be too surprising if both players remain in consideration in future international selections.
No new injury news is good news
Clubs managers can now breathe a little easier: no player was forced off injured in a game where any muscular discomfort would have drawn waves of criticism to De la Fuente’s selection.
The first week of the break was pretty costly, with Spain losing out on three players through injury: Pau Torres (Aston Villa), Martin Zubimendi (Real Sociedad) and Ayoze Perez (Villarreal). All of them are, at the minute, doubtful to feature in the weekend games with their clubs.
Barcelona had the likes of Cubarsi, Casado and Pedri in the starting eleven. Dani Olmo did not play a single minute. Athletic Club’s Nico Williams and Aitor Paredes on the pitch, and Dani Vivian on the bench. Arsenal’s David Raya and Mikel Merino had a proper rest too, as did other Premier League players such as Pedro Porro and Marc Cucurella.
(Top photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images)
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