• Chronicle Spain survives itself in a delusional match

  • 3-5 in Copenhagen Narration and statistics

  • Opinion The European Championship in Spain (and Luis Enrique) has already been a success

The normal thing is that the ball, delivered by

Pedri

to

Unai Simón

from the center of the field, as so many times, would have been controlled by the Spanish goalkeeper. The normal thing, too, is that, in that minute 21, which is already part of the most absurd moments in the history of the national team,

Luis Enrique's men

would have gone ahead on the scoreboard. A few minutes earlier,

Koke

, precisely after a superb assist from Pedri, the youngest player (18 years and 215 days) to play a tie in the entire history of the Euro, had his vision

blurred in

front of

Dominik Livakovic

. The normal thing, in addition, is that winning 1-3 to 10 minutes from the end, Spain would have hunted its prey. There will be those who think that, the normal thing, too, would have been that

Álvaro Morata

, fought with the goal, would have sent the formidable shot with which he liquidated Croatia to the clouds. Then

Mikel Oyarzabal

would appear

, yes. But it was clear that in the European Championship, as in any other big event, what happens does not have to be normal. It happens and period.

And it is that, when the ball spit out of Pedri's right boot, in the first half, the large group of fans with the shirts of the Spanish team, incredulous, threw their hands to their heads, accompanying the litany of the ball. Simón did not control the ball and Spain's colors went up. Inevitable the memory of that

Luis Miguel

Arconada

from the Euro'84, the

Andoni

Zubizarreta

from the World

Cup'98

or the

José Francisco

Molina

from the Euro 2000. When the break came, with the score level again, it was

David de Gea

, who also felt cursed in the last World Cup in Russia, who approached Simón and accompanied him with a relaxed talk on the way to the locker room.

A crazy mistake that is already part of the history of the competition.

Fortunately, the error would end up being an anecdotal scratch for Spain.

Unai Simón laments after his mistake STUART FRANKLINPool via REUTERS

After the blunder, Copenhagen's Parken Stadium roared. And he did it as if he was actually the Maksimir from Zagreb himself. The duel in the stands seemed to have a clear winner long before the game, although his behavior, throwing glasses and bottles at some point in the second act, left much to be desired. Throughout the day, on the kilometer-long Stroget street, the longest pedestrian route in Europe, it was already warned that the Croatian fans would win, and by a landslide. Thousands of plaid shirts, thousands of beers evaporating. There were even those who, despite the high temperatures in Copenhagen, dared to wear the classic water polo cap, a sport that is also deeply rooted in the Balkan country. They had taken to the streets of the Danish capital and, naturally, camped in the Danish compound as if it were the stands of their city.It would be his only victory.

Busquets' career

Simón, untouchable in the four games of this European Championship, clenched his fists when

Pablo Sarabia

subtracted something of significance from his serious mistake.

Laporte and Eric García hugged him to give him one more push.

Fortunately, before the break, Sarabia had managed to balance the matter and, incidentally, agree with Luis Enrique, who bet with him against Slovakia and since that afternoon at La Cartuja he has added two goals and two assists.

This is surely the most important goal of his career.

Even so, when

Aymeric

Laporte

As the second act just dawned, he decided to give him a ball, just as Pedri had done before, the Croatian bottom screamed trying to sow doubts in the goalkeeper. This time, Simón, who conquered Luis Enrique for his game with his feet, had no major difficulties to scare away the danger. A few more balls would pass through his boots.

Unai finished seeing the light when

César Azpilicueta

, after a measured cross from Ferrar Torres, headed the victory for Spain.

To the

speaker

, of

course, it costs him his stuff pronounce the name of the Navarre defense would not have found a

better time to debut as the top

scorer in La Roja eight years after its debut.

Sergio Busquets

crossed the middle of the field to give the Spanish goalkeeper another healing hug, which lifted his spirits.

So much so that

Josko Gvardiol

, in one of Croatia's forays, ran into his gloves when the checkered shirts already believed they saw a tie.

An unexpected extension

There would still be the connection between the two Torres, from Pau to Ferran, from end to end of the field, to complete the Spanish win. There was plenty of his teammates on the center, who had barely six minutes on the green. However, when Simon thought he could breathe a sigh of relief, he was met with the two Croatian stabs. The last, by

Mario

Pasalic

, to force the extension and leave Spain with a face of not knowing how it had encountered such a mess.

Yes, he could do it after a superb extra time in which Morata, who equaled Torrees as the top scorer in a final phase of the European Championship with Spain (five), took out all the thorns at once. The blow was celebrated with a dangerous chest pass in front of the ardent Croatian background. The

whole team was

going to hug him when the referee, in the end, signaled the end and rang at the Parken Stadium

Que viva Spain

of

Manolo Escobar

.

Simon, just in case, had his gloves ready at all times.

It was the history of the catharsis of the national team, which returns, at last, to the quarterfinals of a great event.

Since winning Euro 2012, he had not managed to pass the quarterfinals.

Luis Enrique's boys already have nice to hold onto.

The Copenhagen afternoon in which they passed over Croatia.

Next Friday, in

Saint Petersburg

, against France or Switzerland, they will have a new opportunity.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • Euro 2020

  • Spain Soccer Team

  • Croatia National Soccer Team

  • football

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