Chronicle Spain does not go beyond the draw against Greece and deflates the November balloon
The alarms went off when, in the final stretch of the first half,
Iñigo Martínez
stepped down from the stand that in pandemic times acts as a bench and began to warm up for the
Los Cármenes
band
.
A priori, it did not seem that
Sergio Ramos
-very failed in their passes, even in some very easy ones- and
Eric García
had any physical discomfort, but something had to be behind that decision by
Luis Enrique
.
The cake was uncovered after the break, when the captain stayed in the booth, giving his place to the
Athletic
defender
.
There the alarms already sounded until from the Federation they transferred calm: there was no injury or physical discomfort or anything like it.
Quite simply, Luis Enrique had decided that Ramos would play only 45 minutes against Greece as a mere precaution.
Although perhaps later he would regret his decision.
So the captain observed from the stands, in principle without major problems, how the game was going uphill for Spain and how his substitute committed the more than debatable penalty that ended up neutralizing
Morata's
initial goal
.
And, competitive as he is, he would be taken by the devil to see what happened, but his recent track record calls for caution.
This is how Luis Enrique and his team understood it at least.
Since he underwent surgery on his knee on February 6 to solve his meniscus problems, the captain of the national team and
Real Madrid
had only participated in two games.
He returned to the activity playing an hour in the suffered white victory against
Elche
and three days later he appeared for another 60 minutes in the decisive meeting with
Atalanta
that led Zidane's team to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
His next match had to be last Saturday against
Celta
in
Balaídos
, but he did not enter the call.
Madrid transmitted that it was a mere precaution after having received a blow to the tibia in the game against Atalanta, a priori nothing to do with the injury that made him undergo surgery a month and a half ago.
In fact, his call for this national team break was not in doubt.
When Luis Enrique gave the list, Ramos had only played the game against Elche.
Little, yes, but it is essential in this team.
Five behind Egyptian Hassan's record
Because, you know, when the central Madrid is with the national team, he will play, a lot or a little, (almost) every game.
Because he is a
fundamental piece in the Spanish defense
and because among his many challenges is that of becoming the player with the most international appearances in the history of football.
With the 45 minutes played last night in
Granada
, the Sevillian raised his counter to 178, just five from the record holder, the Egyptian Ahmed Hassan.
If all goes well, he will reach that figure this summer during the European Championship.
The reverse of both was embodied yesterday by both
Bryan Gil
and
Pedri
, debutants with the Spanish team shirt.
With them, Luis Enrique has already made their debut to 21 footballers in his 19 games as head of the national team, at a rate of more than one per game.
In the case of Bryan, he is also the first player in the history of Eibar to play for the absolute.
Pedri, for his part, is at 18 years and 120 days the sixth youngest to debut with the national team.
In recent times, only
Bojan
and
Ansu Fati
were more precocious than him.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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