Spain entered Euro 2021 purring. Well-oiled mechanics, Luis Enrique’s Roja could not convince, when it came to materializing during a group stage without going. And against Croatia, the Spaniards believed, Monday, June 28 in Copenhagen, to return to uncertainty. Before their round of 16 swings into the madness of a Danish tale. At the end of a frenzied game, Alvaro Morata’s teammates qualified for the quarter-finals by taking the best, after extra time, on reactionary Croats (5-3).
After twenty minutes of sterile domination, rich in possession of the ball in the absence of clear chances, La Roja recovered from a gag goal, conceded by the Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon, unable to control a back pass from his partner Pedri . The equalizer, signed by Parisian Pablo Sarabia before the break, and two goals from César Azpilicueta and Ferran Torres seemed to have pulled the Spanish selection out of a trap match.
But the Spaniards were scared, and could have saved themselves the extension, if the incoming Dani Olmo had scored his shot late in the game, which could have given La Roja three goals five minutes from the stroke of final whistle. Because before the siren, the Croats enchanted the Copenhagen stadium by reducing the gap, then equalizing in added time.
Dominated the whole game, and very happy to have opened the scoring without being involved in the action, the teammates of Maestro Luka Modric pushed at the end of the game, carried by the substitute Mislav Orsic (scorer then decisive passer). They won an overtime which, ten minutes earlier, seemed unexpected.
The takeover of Alvaro Morata
And the Croats failed to score a fourth goal early in extra time. On a new foray by the untenable Orsic, Unai Simon made up for his blunder in the first period by interposing against Andrej Kramaric. And it was said that the zeros of yesteryear would become the Spanish heroes. After the goalkeeper of La Roja, it was Alvaro Morata, his silent and clumsy scorer during the first meetings of the Euro – and target of Sevillian whistles – who signed his redemption, scoring the fourth goal of his people after one hundred minutes of play. A clear strike, which put La Roja in orbit. A few minutes later, Mikel Oyarzabal offered the victory to Spain.
In a meeting that saw, at the start of the second half, a change of ball – at the request of the referee -, the Spaniards failed, in the final minutes of extra time, to conclude the score with a tennis score, Morata , then Olmo, narrowly missing the sixth goal. But Sergio Busquets’ teammates will easily adapt to it.
Since the start of the Euro, and after the initial shock of Christian Eriksen’s heart attack during Denmark’s first match, Copenhagen has grown accustomed to a red fury, carried by its Rod-Hvides (“red and white” ). Monday, despite his white tunic, La Roja took over from the Danes in their den, overthrowing the Croats after much turmoil.
Spain, who struggled to score during the first two games of the competition, are now the best attack in the Euro. After Slovakia (5-0), the Croatian defense in turn conceded five goals to the partners of Pablo Sarabia. Winner of the 2008 and 2012 editions of the Euro, La Roja will be at the quarter-finals. French or Swiss, his next opponent is warned: this team can overcome roller coasters.