Croatia vs Spain: Spain started their UEFA Nations League journey with 2 draws. Since then, they won 3 and lost 1 in the group stages of the tournament. With a hard-fought 2-1 against Italy, they reached the final. They are now looking to win their first silverware since their EURO 2012 win. With their opponent, Croatia motivated to win their first-ever international trophy, winning the final will not come easy for Las Rojas. Coach Luis de la Fuente will look to line up his strongest team to win.
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Starting the UEFA Nations Cup journey, Spain drew both of their first two matches against Portugal and the Czech Republic. They started to turn their fate around from the third match as they got away with a narrow 1-0 win against Switzerland. In the return legs, Las Rojas won against both the Czech Republic and Portugal by a 2-0 scoreline and a 1-0 margin respectively. However, they lost against Switzerland by another narrow 2-1 scoreline. However, they accumulated all the points needed to progress to the final four.
With 11 points at the top of the Group 2 table, just one point above second-placed Portugal, Spain next faced Italy in the semi-final. Prior to their match against Italy, Spain had two EURO Qualifying matches against Norway and Scotland. They sailed past smoothly with a 3-0 win shading Norway. However, they fell short against Scotland as they lost by a 2-0 margin. With the defeat still lingering in their mind, they did not let it get to them as they gave a brilliant performance against the Azzurri.
From the first minute, they kept the Azzurri under pressure which caused Baghdad Leonardo Bonucci to make a fatal mistake. Spain’s Yeremy Pink thanked him by putting one past the goalkeeper in the first 3 minutes of the game. However, in the 11th minute, a mistake from Spain’s Robin Le Normand who made his debut that day led to a penalty. Ciro Immobile equalized for Italy, scoring the penalty which was caused by Normand’s handball. The match remained goalless for the next 77 minutes until 2 minutes were left on the clock.
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Spain got their feet back into the game in the final moments. They seemed more likely to score and they did through Joselu in the 88th minute. Now they have a chance to win silverware after 11 years of waiting. Las Rojas did not sustain any new injuries during their clash against Italy. However, they will miss Nico Williams, David Garcia, and Juan Bernat as all three are suffering from injuries since the start of this month. Additionally, Leeds United’s Rodrigo only stayed till half-time.
The coach could bench the 32-year-old attacker against The Chequered Ones. As a result, Marco Asensio could get another call to the starting lineup. Joselu scored the late goal that won them the match. However, it remains highly unlikely that he will replace Alvaro Morata at the frontmost position in the final third. It was a surprise from De la Fuente when he chose 37-year-old Jesus Navas in the place of Dani Carvajal. With that, he became the oldest male Spaniard since 2004 to appear in a competitive fixture.
Spain Probable Starting XI: Simon; Navas, Le Normand, Laporte, Alba; Merino, Rodri; Asensio, Gavi, Pino; Morata
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