• Chronicle Spain, without football or fury, shrinks before a Scotland of the last century

Spain has miseries. They may seem different from the ones they showed in the World Cup, but they are still present and there is no hero to bury them. Or at least he didn't show up last night in Hampden Park. There was no one to guide the selection against Scotland, iron and effective. He had gone 81 games without losing by two goals, since the knockout stages of Euro 2016 against Italy, and 16 years since the last qualifying match without scoring a single goal. Too many spots that the coach has not perceived.

De la Fuente saw before Scotland the idea of Spain he pursues. "We tried to do everything we planned, especially in the first half. I am left with the feeling of having the ideas that we have worked very clear. We have sown and the seed is important. The players have interpreted the idea well and it has not given us to win because we have lacked the goal. I'm not happy with the result, but I'm satisfied," he said.

"I have seen my idea recognized. Which one? We wanted to play with the wingers, look for centers, shots, shots, run to the spaces... Another thing is that we are more successful. We lacked the success to finish the chances and we suffered two accidents. But I remain convinced that this is the way, "insisted the coach, who bets that flees from comparisons with the past: "I want my idea to be recognized."

De la Fuente trusts "blindly" in his summons and in his revolutionary eleven and that feeling is reciprocal. It stinges in the dressing room the wound inflicted by the Scots, but they do not want to open debates. "We don't want to start with doubts anymore. The feeling is of the day that you do things well but you do not have success. We have done many things right and mistakes that penalize us. His goal has conditioned us a lot because it is difficult to attack a line of five, all locked in, and even so we have had options. But the mistakes have cost us dearly, "said Rodri in his role as captain.

Luis de la Fuente wanted to be magnanimous, reward those who changed the match against Norway, those of 'Plan B', and show his faith in everyone in this premiere. Only Kepa and the Rodri-Mikel Merino pair remained in an eleven where the handle was going to be carried by Dani Ceballos. If the Sevillian imagined himself comfortable under the roar of Hampden Park, he was wrong. He did not find Joselu among the Scottish defenders, orderly and forceful, nor Yeremy Pino and Oyarzabal on the banks. He found no one to play with to get out of the web of the tartan army. "They wanted to dominate, the ball rolled slowly and their goal so fast made them put the lines together and hurt us in transitions," Ceballos confessed.

Scotland clouded the game, and not only because of the early goal. There were only a few minutes of succession of Spanish chances, none very clear beyond a crossbar of Joselu, but that did not change the script of a match that Scotland found itself facing with involuntary protagonists.

Two "accidents"

Pedro Porro was entrusted by De la Fuente with the pulse with Robertson and the Extremaduran received the setback quickly. He slipped when the captain was facing the box and put the ball to McTominay for the first goal. Since then, crossed with that unfortunate play, he made sparks fly in his duel with the 'net' under the anger of the 53,000 Scots in the stadium. It was his third international match, his second as a starter, and he is still out of luck.

In his debut with Spain in March 2021 in Georgia, he had to dance with a still unknown Kvaratskhelia, who shone in that match and embittered the side by taking advantage of an error to overtake Georgia. This match ended up going back the selection, but since then the Tottenham defender had not returned to wear the Red.

Like Luis Enrique then, De la Fuente detected the weakness of leaving him on the field against Robertson and made the decision to leave him in the dressing room at halftime and draw on the experience of Carvajal, who also did not have his best night. As soon as he had jumped onto the field, he was unable to stop the very long run by the band of the center Tierney that ended in an assist to McTominay to score the second.

Neither Joselu nor Aspas nor Borja

Spain had a hard time finding a hero. Against Norway Joselu appeared to unblock in four minutes, but last night he crashed twice on the sticks. He could not fatten his brand new international locker, this time with one more year because he turned 33 on Monday.

The role was going to have to be played by Iago Aspas, to get rid of the bad taste in the mouth of his gray party in Malaga, and Borja Iglesias. With no possibility of knocking down the Scottish wall in Glasgow through the center, with Ceballos forced to roll up his sleeves next to Rodri until he gave the baton to Gavi, it was only left to rely on the attacks of Nico and Gayà, with meters on the wings and ability to serve centers that hovered around the head of the Betis striker. A classic when there are no more arguments. Not even Gavi's to the despair of the coach.

That was left and the clapping and shouting of encouragement of Aspas with a winning spirit that clashes with Scotland stripping Spain.

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  • Spain national football team
  • Scotland national football team