Spain finished the Nations League group stage with a 3-2 win over Switzerland, to end up in top spot of Group A4 with 16 points from a possible 18. Luis de la Fuente’s men have not lost a game since March — 1-0 to Colombia in a friendly played in London. In competitive fixtures, Spain’s most recent defeat was in a March 2023 European Championship qualifier against Scotland, 2-0, at Hampden Park.
This latest victory reflects the current mood in Spain — that this is a team capable of beating any rival even without some of their bigger-name players. De la Fuente played something like a B team, with only three of the players (Fabian Ruiz, Nico Williams and Alvaro Morata) who defeated England 2-1 in the final of Euro 2024 four months ago. Despite this, Spain showed their pride and desire by getting a hard-earned victory over stubborn opposition.
They now advance to the quarter-finals of the competition, to be decided over two legs in March, against Croatia (who they beat on penalties to win the final of the previous Nations League last June), Italy or the Netherlands, playing the return leg at home.
The Athletic’s Pol Ballus analyses the main talking points of Monday’s game…
Yet more debutants under De la Fuente
Three players made their first appearance for Spain’s national team last night. Among them was one of the most in-form strikers in Europe: Samu Omorodion.
His 12 goals in 13 games for Portuguese club Porto this season earned him a senior call-up this week, and he came off the bench at half-time to replace captain Morata. The 20-year-old put on a lively display, even if he did not score. Given his obvious potential, and the lack of other options up front, he can be sure of more senior minutes in the near future.
Athletic Bilbao’s Aitor Paredes also made his debut, playing the full 90 minutes alongside Barcelona wonderkid Pau Cubarsi at centre-back. Paredes was caught off-guard in the action that led to Switzerland’s first goal, scored by Young Boys’ Joel Monteiro just after the hour. The 24-year-old seems to be fifth when it comes to De la Fuente’s pecking order of central defenders, with injuries to Robin Le Normand and Pau Torres potentially playing a role in his inclusion here.
Finally, Atletico Madrid’s Pablo Barrios featured in a 10-minute cameo at the end of the game. Barrios, 21, was promoted from the under-21 after the injuries to Martin Zubimendi and Alex Baena last week.
They all join Barcelona’s Marc Casado, who played in Friday’s win over Denmark, as senior debutants during this window.
The Bryans make an impact
With the play losing a bit of momentum as the second half wore on, De la Fuente cranked up through the gears and won the game by adding the dynamite duo of Bryan Gil and Bryan Zaragoza to the mix.
Both were at a crucial moment of their careers in the summer, after underwhelming spells at Tottenham and Bayern Munich respectively. They have both have found new leases of life in loans back to La Liga, at Girona (Gil) and Osasuna, which helped them find a way back to the national team.
Gil pounced on a loose ball in Switzerland’s box and fired home into the bottom corner of Yvon Mvogo’s net to put Spain 2-1 up on 68 minutes.
Bryan Gil celebrates scoring Spain’s second of the evening (Gabriel Jimenez/Getty Images)
Switzerland fought back and levelled the scores for the second time on the night after a careless Fabian Ruiz challenged resulted in an Andi Zeqiri penalty, but there was still time for Zaragoza to have his say.
Zaragoza had been very active since coming in with 20 minutes to go, but it wasn’t until stoppage time when he set off on a run from the right, left three opponents in his wake and was ultimately fouled inside the penalty area. The 23-year-old quickly grabbed the ball to take the spot kick, and did not miss.
With the absence of the injured Lamine Yamal, and with Williams still getting up to his best levels, the impact of the Bryans reminded De la Fuente of how dangerous this Spain side became in the summer with two in-form wingers ready to prove a point.
It would not be too surprising if both players remain in consideration in future international selections.
No new injury news is good news
Clubs managers can now breathe a little easier: no Spanish player was forced off injured in a game where any muscular discomfort would have drawn waves of criticism to De la Fuente’s selection.
The first week of this international break was pretty costly, with Spain losing out on three players through injury: Torres (Aston Villa), Zubimendi (Real Sociedad) and Ayoze Perez (Villarreal). All, at the minute, are doubtful to feature for their clubs at the weekend.
Barcelona had the likes of Cubarsi, Casado and Pedri in the starting XI, but their colleague Dani Olmo did not play a single minute. Athletic’s Williams and Paredes were on the pitch, and Dani Vivian on the bench. Arsenal duo David Raya and Mikel Merino had a proper rest too, as did other Premier League players, such as Pedro Porro of Spurs and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.
(Top photo: Miguel Riopa/AFP via Getty Images)
