Resting on its laurels, this is how Spain played the penultimate game of the Nations League. The team that months ago shed its emotional and sporting burdens, seduced with its game, beat mercilessly and understood that almost no one is capable of beating it did not appear in Pasarón.. Because not even a storm has weakened these players, World champions and heading towards the Paris Olympic Games, but Italy and some unforgivable mistakes have.. [Narrative and statistics (2-3)]
Spain, with the score in favor at half-time, gave the Italians an advantage by returning to the field with ten. Thank goodness it came apart just when I had my homework done.. It was a warning that writing history is not easy and there is still a way to go to be an Olympian.. He took the field with the need to secure a point to be in the Final Four and had all three in his hand in the 12th minute. Athenea del Castillo appeared at the top of the area to break Boattin and put the team ahead in the 12th minute. In the 25th minute, and without having to score again, Switzerland completed its victory against Sweden and made the Spanish team the first to reach the Final Four of the Nations League.
From that moment on, everything became cloudy.. Spain dominated, but the Italians readjusted themselves to cover the holes they left on the sides and, from there, sneak around the Cata Coll area.. The prize would come after the break due to a series of extraordinary errors.
“Aitana told us late”
The first was to go out with 10 players. Neither Athenea, replaced by Lucía García, nor Aitana Bonmatí returned to the field.. But her replacement, Esther, jumped onto the pitch a minute after the Greek referee whistled for the restart.. In the first 30 seconds, the tie came. Caruso saw the gap between Irene Paredes and Ona Batlle and looked for Giacinti. The versions of what happened are contradictory.. “Aitana notified us late and it took us that long to activate Esther,” explained Montse Tomé.
“He said the changes almost at the beginning of the talk and we knew that we were left on the bench,” explained Athenea.. It is not the first controversy that the coach has had to face.. In the duel against Switzerland he had to repeat the call because the changes were uploaded late to the UEFA platform.
The fact is that that error and the tying goal by the Italians messed up the duel and Spain did not know how to resolve it.. Aleixandri had a header and, without time to regret it, the comeback came. From an error in the release of the ball by Irene Paredes, without rhythm after weeks injured but starting, Cambiaghi's goal was born. The slope got even steeper at 1-3, after a shot by Linari at the far post.
Final Four in February
Spain was decomposing and Italy had lost respect for it. With pride they sought to remake themselves. Galician Tere Abelleira hit the crossbar with a right hand. She wanted to avoid leaving her house defeated and between the two centers she assisted Esther so that she could cover up the defeat a little.. That's what Cata Coll did with a save from a dry shot by Galli that would have been humiliating.
Spain's fortune is that it had a place in the Final Four served on a plate by the Swedes. Otherwise Tuesday's duel at La Rosaleda would have been a final. It is a wake-up call for what is to come from February 21 to 28. Spain will have to win two duels if it wants to be in Paris.
One of their rivals will be France, also qualified, and on the last day Germany and Denmark will compete for a place in group 3 and group 1 is even more open, with the Netherlands, England and Belgium.