Joselu leads Spain to the Nations League final (2-1)

Spain Another title will be played this Sunday (the one from League of Nations) thanks to the success of the Galician striker Joselu Mato, who came out in the last minutes of the match against Italy when the score was stuck and scored the final 2-1 in a possible opportunity.

The beginning of the meeting served as a public presentation of the arguments of each team, although there were not too many surprises. Within an acceptable lack of freshness at this stage of the season, Spain opted for an intense start with forward pressing overwhelming Italy. So much so that after three minutes of the game Jeremy Pino stole his wallet bonucci in the attack and scored the first goal of the match.

Then he moved to the next level: control through possession. But the obsessive (and too horizontal) way of applying the story led him to several mistakes at the beginning of the play that gave wings to the Italians, specialists in finding cracks in someone else’s plan. They concluded that his repertoire of shots from distance behind the defense might be enough to balance the game, which it was.

They managed to take the Spanish central defenders out of their comfort zone, and the midfielders failed to stop the bleeding. Snapshot of crazy which would have missed the touchline, was intercepted by the debutant Le Normand with his hand and Immobile scored the equalizing goal. Frattesi joined the party and Spain began to struggle, unable to cope with a situation quite unstable for their interests. Le Normand and Laporte suffered more than was necessary for the risks taken. The match had no owner, but it had emotions.

Despite this, the Spanish team continued to spread the field, exhausting the Italians by forcing them to run from one side to the other and continue the game as many times as necessary. The tempo did not drop, and the Navas-Gavi connection brought confusion to the defense blue, although the Italians counterpointed through Bonucci and Spinazzola. Until then, only VAR prevented 1-2 in favor of the Transalpinians, who appreciated the timely offside.

Spain dominated, but the three-quarter line was its own special Rubicon. From time to time he shot himself in the foot and got a dangerous play from a corner kick in favor, like the one that Le Normand derailed in the 34th minute against Barella. Morata activated and Toloi registered the last scare before the break.

Feelings upon returning were contradictory. Asensio stepped in to create a long-range scare and it took three minutes for him to latch on to Mera’s delivery to finish in the small area. Donnarumma appeared and Morata lost the rejection in vain. And in the 50th minute, a direct free kick in the Chilean half was finished by Rodri after a wrong start by the Italian goalkeeper.

Spain took advantage of the inertia and tilted the pitch towards the opponent’s area. Italy paused and the game was again stuck a few meters from the half-moon. Italy, seeing that Spain was not struggling too much, added intensity to the game, pressing a little more. And Italy did, with an unforgettable whip-lash from Fratessi in the heart of the area to the center of Chiesa and saved by Unai Simón with a no less spectacular save. From that moment on, Chiesa and Dimarco helped split Spain in two. De la Fuente reacted by refreshing the midfield with Channels, Ansu Fati and Fabián Ruiz. When he grew up, he entered Joselu, who would later become a clairvoyant. Verratti entered intense Frattes.

And when the game seemed to be heading for extra time, a strike of faith hit Spain against the Italian front, a deflection that Rodri impaled and, bouncing through it, the Galician Josel led the team to the final on Sunday against Croatia in Rotterdam (20:45, La 1).

MATCH SHEET

SPAIN (2): Unai Simón; Navas, Le Normand, Laporte, Jordi Alba; Rodri Hernández, Merino (Fabián, min 74), Gavi (Canales, min 69); Yeremy (Ansu Fati, min 74), Rodrigo Moreno (Asensio, rest) and Morata (Joselu, min 84).

ITALY (1): Donnarumma; Di Lorenzo, Tolói, Bonucci (Darmian, other), Acerbi; Frattesi (Verratti, min. 76), Jorginho (Cristante, min. 61), Barella; Spinazzola (Dimarco, min 46), Zaniolo and Immobile (Chiesa, min 60).

GOALS: 1-0, min 3: Yeremy; 1-1, min 11: Motionless (penalty); 2-1, min 88, Joselu.

REFEREE: Slavko Vinčić (SLO). He warned Alba, Gavi, Morata, Immobile and Zaniol.

INCIDENTS: Nations League semi-finals. Twente Stadium in Enschede (Netherlands).

DEBUT

Le Normand, the premier, and a penalty after ten minutes

Luis de la Fuente gave an alternative to the central defender of Real Sociedad, the Frenchman, Robin le Normand, who did not enter the game well, because ten minutes before that, he blocked Zaniolo’s shot in the penalty area with his right hand. the game. After this action, Le Normand recovered and finished in the main roles, such as the one in the 34th minute against Barella in Italy’s counterattack. He improved in the second part.

JOSEL

“I was a thief to see what would happen and the ball fell to me”

Galician Joselu Mato for the goal he scored in the 88th minute said that he was a thief to see what would happen to finally pick up the rebound on Rodri’s shot with which he signed his goal. “It consisted of faith. The team played a great game. We have mastered almost the entire second part. The ball was missing. I was confident, and now I’m super happy because we’re in the final and we played a good game that we deserved,” he said.

HISTORICAL ORDER

Navas breaks the longevity record

Sevilla right-back Jesús Navas has become the oldest footballer to play for the Spanish team (37 years and 206 days), a record which he stole from goalkeeper Antonio Ramallets (36 years and 349 days, in 1961). Galician forward Luis Suárez played his last international game at 36 years and 345 days, while Basque goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta was left out of the team’s veteran podium at 36 years and 245 days.