There are happy days. This Thursday it was for Spain, blessed already before the mess with Greece. Sweden hit the blow in Georgia and an hour later the Red paraded in Athens knowing that a victory would allow them to face the last day as the leader of the group. Sarabia, from a penalty, certified a Spanish triumph without fanfare, and Luis Enrique’s team will be worth it by not losing to the Swedes next Sunday to be in the World Cup.
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Vlachodimos, Dimitrios Goutas, Tzavelas, Dimitrios Giannoulis (Dimitris Limnios, min. 66), Thanasis Androutsos, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Manolis Siopis, Giorgos Masouras (Christos Tzolis, min. 45), Petros Mandalos, Bouchalakis (Pelkas, min. 77) Vangelis Pavlidis
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Unai Simón, Gayá, Laporte, Dani Carvajal, Íñigo Martínez (Azpilicueta, min. 88), Rodrigo, Pablo Páez Gavira (Busquets, min. 64), Koke, Sarabia (Dani Olmo, min. 56), Morata (Fornals, min. 64) and De Tomás (Rodrigo, min. 56)
Goals 0-1 min. 25: Sarabia.
Yellow cards Manolis Siopis (min. 32), Sarabia (min. 47), Konstantinos Tsimikas (min. 53), Dimitrios Goutas (min. 58), Dani Carvajal (min. 77) and Tzavelas (min. 92)
By tongue breakerIt will be difficult for the name of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a Georgian footballer who left the Sweden of the reappeared Ibrahimovic, to be engraved in the Spanish memory. Streamers for the Red, which to beat in an Olympic stadium in Athens in the bones, except for a handful of enthusiasts Erasmus Spaniards, would have one step the fixed square for Qatar 2022. And so it was. If Luis Enrique’s men do not fire the fire against Sweden at La Cartuja, La Roja will be in the next World Cup, a tournament with which they have been flirting continuously since Argentina in 1978.
He played not giving the cante in Athens and Spain, very conditioned by the casualties, he had the necessary patience to dispatch the fastened Van’t Schip team. Greece is a coarse team whose people have in the open, despite the fact that a victory would have given them options for a play-off. Against the Red she limited herself to her role as a resistant one and had little discretion when in the final stretch she was still involved in the game. He did not even take advantage of the greatest visitor laziness in the second act.
Initially, the government was a visitor. Luis Enrique’s group had to manage the game with courage. Reserved from the start, Busquets, the game was given a reel by the two centrals, Íñigo Martínez and Laporte, with Raúl de Tomás – the 28th debutant with Luis Enrique – on the left side of the attack, Sarabia on the right and Morata on the offensive axis, although with swaps with RDT. All under the arrest of the three local centers, which forced the Spanish forwards to play with their backs more than necessary. Luckily RDT dominates wonderfully, but on his clearest occasion, in front of the goal, he was hypnotized. It was difficult for Spain to overflow. Today there are not many bargainers in the universal panorama. And La Roja has a squad of strikers in the infirmary: Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Oyarzabal, Gerard Moreno … Luis Enrique had to play Rodrigo Moreno a year later. And without many other alternatives, he decided that RDT would be a winger more than the Espanyol striker would have liked.
Faced with a trench like the Greek, nothing better than the sides to act as fans. Carvajal did not succeed and it took Gayà, a deep and clinical player in his centers, to be activated. Before the Valencian captain was agitated, the peak moment of the match arrived.
The VAR raffles
With VAR everything is possible. Greece got tails, who in their first and almost only adventure saw a goal being disallowed by Masouras for an offside by centimeters. Just three minutes later, another raffle. Spain threw a corner and in a hubbub in the area the referee noticed a kick to Íñigo Martínez. The Greeks saw more. A previous hand from Laporte in the middle of the ruckus. A raffle. All very blurry except for the Pole Szymon Marciniak, who the VAR did not correct. Sarabia executed the penalty with solvency, with a shot to the opposite side to which Odisseas lay down.
With Gayà on the shuttle and Gavi more plugged in, Morata made it 0-2 after a great maneuver, but the Greek goalkeeper deflected the ball with a big man, a clearance that was as unorthodox as that of Odisseas was effective.
Greece, a team with an exhausting style, gave a certain stretch in the second half, although without great warnings against Unai Simón. It does not give him much more, but with the score so tight any spasmodic play could be fatal for Spain. The difference between victory and draw was abysmal for Red. From the obligation of having to beat Sweden to the possibility that it will serve him not to lose with the Scandinavian team. Spain needed to close the match, so Luis Enrique completely refreshed the lead, with Dani Olmo, Rodrigo Moreno and Fornals. Greece was already leaving horizons, but there was no Spaniard who gave the lace, with people accelerated, with successive occasions badly closed offside. Without offensive remedy, just in case, the Asturian coach also turned to Busquets as a support along with Rodri in the midfield cabinet. Spain needed balance in its bumpy second half.
With the blow of the fang, the Dutch Van’t Schip’s team kept the pulse until the end, with a pair of disturbing loiterings on the perimeter of Unai. Spain stayed afloat and after so much trouble during the qualifying phase, they already have Qatar 2022 in sight. And without annoying and disturbing play-offs ahead, except for a hit in Seville.
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