TENERIFE.- Spain finished the group stage of the Nations League undefeated by winning 3-2 against Swiss after a frenetic second half and a penalty goal from Bryan Zaragoza at 90+2, this Monday in Tenerife.
The Spaniards’ next appointment with the tournament will be in March, in the quarterfinals, for those who were already classified as leaders of the group. The draw on Friday at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon (Switzerland) will determine the rival, which will be Italy, the Netherlands or Croatia.
In this Monday’s clash, Pedri missed a penalty, guessed by goalkeeper Yvon Mvogo, but Yeremy Pino took advantage of a rebound to score the first goal of the match in the 31st minute.
Striker Álvaro Morata was the one who caused the foul, but almost all the fans gathered at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium shouted the name of the Barcelona midfielder, born in Tenerife.
It was the first penalty shot, not counting shoot-outs, that Pedri had taken among his 30 games with the Spanish team and the 160 duels played with Barcelona in all competitions.
After taking the lead on the scoreboard, Luis de la Fuente’s pupils unsuccessfully insisted on the attack against a timid Switzerland, which barely generated any chances in the first half, but did not make it easy for them either.
Three minutes after the match resumed, the Swiss changed their faces and forgave the tie after Joel Monteiro won the game against Aitor Paredes, who fell to the ground. But the Swiss winger crossed the ball too much, seeing how the ball went close to the post.
Instead, Monteiro made up for it with a spectacular drive that ended up putting the ball between goalkeeper Robert Sánchez’s legs in the 62nd minute of play.
The Swiss had made a personal move after beating Grimaldo and Paredes to take a powerful low shot out of his sleeve.
With the match tied, Spain roared again in the offensive zone. In a pressure play, Bryan Gil managed to snatch the ball after a visitor’s indecision and scored with an impressive cross-bottom left footed shot in the 69th minute.
Victory seemed on track, but an attempted clearance by Fabián ended up hitting Vincent Sierra inside the area. From eleven meters, Andi Zeqiri converted the penalty after deceiving Sánchez with his shot in the 85th minute.
Already in injury time, Bryan Zaragoza carried out a great individual action that forced the maximum penalty. He himself converted it with an unstoppable shot at 90+2.
“We know how to suffer, we already demonstrated it in the Euro Cup. We must not lose faith in this team,” Pino declared to Spanish Television at the end of the match.
“My game is based on dribbling. Whenever I have the ball I try. The penalty thing was a matter of personality,” Zaragoza said before.
Three players make their debut
In addition to the victory, the match was also marked by the debuts of Aitor Paredes, Samu Omorodion Aghehowa and Pablo Barrios, as well as the ownership of Marc Casadó.
“I’m happy, it could be the happiest day of my life,” said Omorodion Aghehowa, who revealed De La Fuente’s message to the young player: “Let it be me that has brought me here and let me work for the team.” “.
La Roja has played 13 games in 2024 in all competitions and has not lost any. They only ‘stumbled’ in one, with a 0-0 draw against Serbia in September. In this way, it achieved the record of competitive matches without defeat in the same year in its entire history. Added to this is the fact that he has achieved his highest number of victories, with a dozen.
