Luis Enrique was in a ‘7’ of concern, as he himself acknowledged in the press conference prior to the match against Slovakia , and it was no wonder. Spain was on the wire, subject, but with the option that a defeat would unleash it and sign a blushing, early and unexpected elimination from the Eurocup . Lucho bet, strong and unpopular, and 90 minutes later he was right, with a ’10’, an honor plate that returns credit for the qualifiers.
Questioned by his call and by the decisions in the first two games, Luis Enrique entered the game making noise and came out the front door, with a thrashing under his arm and with his players carrying him on their shoulders after a very complete performance in terms of game and hit. Opposite a giddy Slovakia circulation of the ball Spain, with majestic -MVP- Busquets and Pedri and Koke as unbeatable squires to connect with the front.
In the most advanced line, Morata’s failure in the penalty serves to fill in the memes, but not to undermine the confidence of the coach in one of his fetish players. Álvaro fixes him on the centrals, runs in the front line of pressure and is always ready to finish off, although he was wrong until the hesitation of the Internet users. The alignment of the ‘7’ was one of his decisions, but the most surprising resided in the defense, a line that remained insurmountable behind and with prominence in the goals.
Azpilicueta , a winger relegating Marcos Llorente to the bench, provided the strength needed to release the rest of the team forward. The lane in the opposite band thanked him, a Jordi Alba who attended Sarabia and was profound as in his great days at Messi’s Barça. Eric, neat and focused, shared a pair of centrals with a great Laporte , who in addition to finally being the boss from his profile, the left, scored 2-0 after a center from Gerard Moreno.
Busquets, the ‘snitch’ to get a 10
Luis Enrique raised the game and got the honors, but he did it with certain traps. The Asturian had a snitch, who blew him the questions, and with which everything was easier. Busquets was the axis and completed a match that not only made things easier for the coach, but also for the rest of his teammates. Some of them, like Sarabia , had the only confidence of the coach, but he took advantage of it wonderfully with a goal, an assist, and the feeling of constant danger that a practically certain starting position in the second round is worth.
Now it’s Croatia , in a round of 16 that are not the simplest but could be worse, and it remains to be seen if Luis Enrique will confirm his eleven chosen as the starters from here at the end of the Eurocup or if he will continue experimenting with the 24 chosen. Either one way or another, the coach has won – credit and right – by risking and winning.
