Euro 2020

Spain held to a goalless draw by stubborn Swedes

Spain kicked off their euro 2020 campaign with a frustrating goalless draw against Sweden.

By Muhammed Shibin

Spain who had the vast majority of possession and territory in the match was unable to take advantage of good opportunities their build-up play yielded’.

The three-time champions, who had 85% of possession, 917 passes with 830 completed, unable to make a breakthrough to goal with plenty of opportunities in the goalmouth.

Luis Enrique’s side got several chances to break the deadlock throughout the game. The best chance fell to Alvaro Morata in the 38th minutes to put Spain ahead. However, he places his effort narrowly wide of the bottom right post. Another decent effort came from him in the 5oth minutes where he fired a low strike towards the left corner of the net, but it couldn’t hit the target.

Sweden got their first chance in the final minutes of the first half when a shot from Alexandra Isak hit the post just after Llorente tries to clear it and looped right into the thankful arms of Simon.

Isak, The Laliga young player, also fashioned a great opportunity for Marcus Berg, who somehow managed to steer a shot from near point-blank range-wide at the back post.

Janne Andersson’s side clung on to avoid any late dramas, held Spain into a goalless draw, and went forward for counterattack whenever they possess the ball. They got few opportunities however, they could not turn them into the back of the net.

Victor Lindelof won the star of the match award for organizing Sweden’s defense perfectly against Spain’s attacks.

“He organized his defense perfectly and brought calm to proceedings. He was excellent in the air and shut out the Spanish forwards. A great performance.” said Ginés Meléndez, UEFA Technical Observer

“We faced a team who decided to defend and base all their hopes on a long ball forward. Even so, they had the chance to win. A draw like this feels bad and I’m sorry for the players and the fans because this was a night to win. Our preoccupation is to create goal chances and we did that but we didn’t tuck them away.” Luis Enrique said in the post-match interview

 

What’s next?

Sweden is in Saint Petersburg in Russia to face Slovakia, who beat Poland in their first match, on Friday 18 June. Spain plays the day after, facing the Poles in Seville.

 

 

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Muhammed Shibin

Muhammed Shibin is a writer who is passionate about football and teaching

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