BLUNDERFUL WONDERFUL COPENHAGEN
Spirited Spain bounce back to heal a self-inflicted wound
AS 47-yard own goals go, it was one of the less spectacular ones but it rang the bell for a thrilling encounter in Copenhagen.
Teenage midfielder Pedri will forever see his name credited with a bizarre strike from near the halfway line after 20 minutes that opened the scoring in this knockout game.
In reality, however, the blame lay with Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon. The Athletic Bilbao No.1 was already looking upfield before lifting his right foot to control Pedri’s tame pass when it rolled past him and he watched in despair before bowing his head as it nestled inside the left upright.
Spain were taking flak from back home following the opening two drawn group games – 0-0 with Sweden and 1-1 against Poland.
But they ignited in the final match against Slovakia with a 5-0 blitz to qualify in second behind the Swedes.
The criticism from close quarters appeared to have galvanised them.
Midfielder Sergio Busquets leapt to the defence of his keeper, saying: “Unai Simon knows he’s got our total confidence. The goal was bad luck, but his mentality is very laidback while remaining ambitious, and he showed that. He was ultra-secure after the goal and made some top saves.”
Indeed he did, most notably from Andrej Kramaric in extra-time, with the game level at 3-3, when the Croatian had the goal at his mercy from seven yards only for Simon to make a fabulous stop.
Luis Enrique’s side had recovered from the early blow to be level by half-time as Pablo
Sarabia’s thunderous left foot ended a game of goalmouth ping-pong. After Cesar Azpilicueta’s header from a corner and a cool, low finish by Ferran Torres, they appeared to be home and dry with 13 minutes left.
But Croatia had something to say about that.
Goal-line technology confirmed Mislav Orsic had scrambled the ball over the line – barely – with five minutes left before Mario Pasalic timed a run into the box beautifully to rise majestically and glance home a header two minutes into stoppage-time to send the game to an extra 30 minutes. Simon’s save from Kramaric fired Spain into action and the much-criticised Alvaro Morata put them ahead with a wonderful first touch before crashing a left-foot volley into the roof of the net from a tight angle 10 minutes into extra-time.
Three minutes later, it was all over when Mikel Oyarzabal slotted home, with no late Croatia heroics this time.
Azpilicueta said: “Boy, we had to suffer. It’s been a few tournaments since we went through a knockout match. But we broke the ice against the World Cup runners-up.
“It wasn’t great to be scored against twice late in normal time, but we were the better team in extra-time.” Oyarzabal summed up the mentality, saying: “All I wanted was the chance to help the team – whether I started, came on or didn’t get any time. That’s what we all feel like.”
That team spirit pushed them through the quarter-final against Switzerland on penalties but another shoot-out in the semi-final with Italy was a step
too far.