If this had been the second game of the night, those who watched Italy v Croatia may have missed the opportunity to see the fifth best team in Euro 2024. It turns out that this is SpainBrazil’s second team, which continued to play with greater fluidity than practically everyone else in the tournament.
They had many of the same qualities as the first team, but also the same flaws in finishing. It didn’t matter here, as they beat Albania 1-0 to secure three perfect wins from three in the group stage. They will now certainly try to become the first European champions to win every game, something no one has achieved even in the 16-team era. This is what Spain should aim for.
This doesn’t diminish Albania, who ended up improving their game in the end, as they knew they had a chance to stay in this competition, but they couldn’t get close enough. They fell to their knees in disappointment at the end, but there was probably also considerable exhaustion from chasing passes.
Albania’s national event was reduced to a training match, where the wider Spanish squad submitted their requests for places later. Suddenly they went from being the most convincing first XI to having the strongest squad.
Of course, this is no guarantee of victory, especially given Spain’s recent history. They have flattered a lot to deceive since 2012 and the last World Cup was the best example of this.
But that’s obviously how you’d want to start any tournament. The perfect record also brought the chance to rest the players.
You could see them suddenly stumbling in the quarter-finals, sure, but you could also see them convincingly becoming champions again.
You can also witness a little of this past. If this is a summer in which Spain rolls back the years, there were more moments to remember from Euro 2008. Even the decision to play the second XI reflected what they did against Greece in Austria 16 years ago.
In Dusseldorf on Monday we saw a move that must have been repeated several times during that summer and, of course, for the next four years. Just like Andres Iniesta and David Villa, Dani Olmo made the cleanest pass among the defenders and got into the path of the Ferran Torres. The striker then hit a low shot against the post. They were all angles, just like in the glory era.
This does not mean that these two are in the class of Iniesta and Villa, but it is impressive how the ideology persists. Much has been made about young stars Nico Williams and Yamine Lamal helping to develop this ideology, and they weren’t even necessary to begin with here.
Aymeric Laporte’s opening ball wasn’t bad either.
Within all this, however, there is a familiar flaw in Spain. They just don’t score enough. To be frank, they should have a lot more than the mere five goals they scored in this tournament. In fact, they made the most of the game, where they were less commanding. The 3-0 win over Croatia was the only match that was probably close to 50-50 overall.
This is not quite the recent Spanish problem of having so much possession that they can become confused about when to pass and when to shoot. There was still a setback when substitute Lamal came on and destroyed the Albanian defense only to then try to pass to Alvaro Morata when he himself had the goal at his mercy, but that was more a question of inexperience than the usual ideological conditioning with Spain.
They now create many big chances. Circumstances also ensured that there was a certain relaxation in them here, which brought a kind of free expressiveness. At the start of the first half, Torres played a beautiful reverse ball to Olmo, which led to the midfielder opting to play a backheel pass to Joselu instead of just finishing.
The broader issue could still have some consequences for Spain. The number of opportunities they missed against Italy will still be on their minds, especially as the Azzurri are the opponents they have some complexity against. Will Italy come back to knock out Spain at some point?
However, this was too much for Albania. They ended up being able to constantly chase Spanish passes. It must have been so tantalizingly frustrating that the Albanians were supposedly one game away from making history, but it seemed like they were always one Spanish pass behind when trying to win the ball.
Kristjan Asllani had his best chance until stoppage time and it was telling that it was a brilliant shot from long range. David Raya was up to the task, doing his part by kicking ass. He then had a half-chance in the closing stages.
The question of this game is how many would equal Spain’s second team? There probably aren’t many and they are certainly another team to watch.
