Madrid (AFP)

On a level playing field: one week before the opening of the Euro (June 11 - July 11), Spain and Portugal parted in a scoreless draw on Friday at the Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, a shock that allowed to the two favorites to gauge each other.

Despite the draw, it is the "Roja" which emerges strengthened from this match, and the "Seleçao" with some doubts.

Because Spain dominated the debates from the first period, in particular thanks to a doublet Sergio Busquets - Thiago Alcantara omnipresent in the middle of the field.

The Barça player was the safety deposit, effectively protecting his precious balls and distributing the game from one wing to the other, while his Liverpool counterpart swallowed the kilometers, also multiplying the offensive appearances.

This midfielder completely stifled the Portuguese attack, which had only a few balloons against to put in their mouths.

If Renato Sanches knew how to exploit a few, neither the captain Cristiano Ronaldo, nor the striker Diogo Jota, nor the free electron Joao Felix could not express themselves in front.

It is besides an interception of Busquets which led to the best opportunity of the "Roja" in the first period: in the 27th, Alvaro Morata delivered a superb cross from the outside with his right foot to the far post, but Ferran Torres did not frame his header and the ball grazed Rui Patricio's right post.

This same Morata had another double opportunity after returning from the locker room (54th), without however succeeding in scoring.

And a final big opportunity in stoppage time (90th + 1), but his strike from the inside of the foot hit the crossbar.

As a symbol of all the unfortunate attempts of the Spaniards on Friday night.

- "CR7" annoyed -

The sterility of the Portuguese offensives, but especially the few dangerous situations conceded by the reigning European champions, had the gift of annoying "CR7", who showed signs of annoyance by raising his arms several times to the sky and yelling at his coach from the other side of the pitch.

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The center forward of Juventus, who returned to play in Madrid for the first time since his departure from Real in the summer of 2018, almost scored a gag goal, by countering a poor recovery from the Basque goalkeeper Unai Simon ( 37th).

Apart from this overtaking and a dangerous center for the head of Diogo Jota (60th), Cristiano Ronaldo was most of the time well muzzled by the red curtain, and in particular by Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte, who was playing his first match on Friday with Spain after being naturalized Spanish at the end of May.

Laporte almost made us forget the absence in central defense of captain Sergio Ramos, not retained by Luis Enrique to dispute the Euro.

This continental shock, however, offered a good taste, in the stands, of a large Euro poster: the match was played in front of 14,743 spectators.

Before the kick-off, Portuguese heads of government Antonio Costa and Spanish heads of government Pedro Sanchez presented their joint candidacy for the organization of the 2030 World Cup, in the presence of the King of Spain Felipe VI and the President of the Portuguese Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Spain conclude their preparation with a final meeting against Lithuania on Tuesday at the Butarque stadium in Leganés, a suburb of Madrid, while Portugal will face Israel on Wednesday at the José-Alvalade stadium in Lisbon.

© 2021 AFP