Córdoba witnessed Spanish football, a fun and daring game that is already becoming a custom in Europe. El Arcángel acted as host of La Roja after 23 years and Luis de la Fuente‘s team responded to the affection of the fans with a rout against Serbia that resulted in Spain qualifying for the quarterfinals of the Nations League. Three goals fell in Andalusia, but it could have been five, six, seven… if you take into account that Spain added 30 shots. The problem is that only seven were on goal. Morata, who missed a penalty, vindicated himself with a nice goal. More precious was the direct free kick that Baena nailed into the corner to close a score that Laporte had opened.
3
David Raya, Daniel Vivian (Pau Cubarsí, min. 82), Laporte, Pedro Porro, Cucurella, Merino (Pedri, min. 64), Martín Zubimendi, Oyarzabal, Álex Baena (Bryan Zaragoza, min. 78), Fabián (Aleix García , min. 81) and Morata (Joselu, min. 78)
0
Predrag Rajkovic, Veljko Birmancevic, Nikola Milenkovic, Strahinja Pavlović, Strahinja Erakovic, Kosta Nedeljkovic, Lazar Samardzic (Marko Grujic, min. 45), Maksimovic, Sasa Zdjelar (Andrija Maksimovic, min. 64), Mitrovic (Jan-Carlo Simic, min. . 78) y Dejan Joveljic (Jovic, min. 45)
Goals 1-0 min. 4: Laporte. 2-0 min. 65: Morata. 3-0 min. 77: Álex Baena.
Arbitrator Daniel Stefanski
yellow cards Oyarzabal (min. 6), Strahinja Erakovic (min. 38), Nikola Milenkovic (min. 53) and Jovic (min. 90)
red cards Strahinja Pavlović (min. 76)
Spain changes its names and scheme, but it does not change its ambition. Nor is his football, against Serbia, closer to what he showed in the Euro Cup, when he won all seven games, than what he showed last Saturday in the hard-fought victory against Denmark in Murcia. The field helped, as did the rain, at times torrential in the Arcángel. The grass in good condition and fast turned out to be a candy for the talent of De la Fuente’s boys, a poison for the Serbs, tall but fragile in aerial balls, strong but without rhythm to move the ball.
Zubimendi once again pulled the strings of La Roja. This time supported by his old acquaintance at Anoeta, Mikel Merino, who was joined in the center of the field by the omnipresence of Fabián, looser with his ex-Real partner in contention, released to associate with Alex Baena.
In Córdoba, the plague of injuries suffered by La Roja received a new blow, probably the worst. The wonder boy of Spain, a magnet for the affection of all fans, especially the youngest ones, fell: Lamine Yamal. But as he had already found solutions to resolve the six absences compared to the eleven that took the field in the Euro final, De la Fuente also did so when he had to resolve Lamine’s absence due to overload.
De la Fuente opted for a change of system, only with Oyarzabal as a pure winger on the right wing, while Baena opened and closed on the left at the pace of what the team needed. Both, in any case, equally intense to take advantage of Morata’s usual enthusiasm in pressure. De la Fuente’s idea to dribble the Serbian defense—a 3-5-1 that mutated into a 5-4-1 when they didn’t have the skin, that is, almost always—caught quickly. Very fast. Not even five minutes had passed when a cross cross, which did not invite danger in the Serbian area, counted on the parsimony of goalkeeper Rajkovic, so that Laporte, with a header, made it 1-0.
The goal did not dampen La Roja’s ambition, much less Serbia’s fear. Stojkovic’s selection took more than half an hour to appear at Raya’s house. Meanwhile, Spain, in the first act alone, wasted eight shots, none of which were successful between the three posts, the closest being a header from Mikel Merino that crashed into the woodwork. La Roja dominated the game, but it was difficult for them to kill the score.
Spain’s lack of success was symbolized by a new failure by Morata. This time from the penalty spot, after Birmanzevic touched the ball with his hand in his area after Pedro Porro’s cross. Morata’s poor judgment (he botched two of the four he threw with the Spain shirt) threatened to wake up Serbia. But it was just that, a feint: Mitrovic’s sights became cloudy in front of Raya. Then, Spain was reunited with Spain. Above all, he was reunited with the goal. And no one needed it more than Morata. Fabián looked for the current Milan forward just a foot away from the crescent. The 7 this time adjusted his body well and, first, placed the ball gently to the left post, away from Rajkovic. Football was dyed red, as well as the networks. A prize for Alex Baena’s game, a game-changer in Murcia against Denmark, decisive against Serbia. Baena took advantage of a direct free kick to draw a beautiful parabola and thus seal the victory for Spain.
A great night of football in the rain of Córdoba left the National Team in the quarterfinals of the Nations League with two games left until the end of the group stage.
