Spain 1-0 Switzerland: Recap

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

Easy win for the home team, but Ansu Fati was quiet

The UEFA Nations League returned to action on Saturday and Spain continued their unbeaten run in their group thanks to a 1-0 win against Switzerland in Madrid. Ansu Fati and Sergio Busquets represented Barcelona and started for La Roja, but neither managed to impress in what was a quite mediocre performance from the Spanish.

FIRST HALF

Spain were the better team throughout the first half, dominating possession and moving it quickly from side to side to try and find spaces against Switzerland’s back five. Both full-back pushed forward looking to combine with the wingers, and the home team managed to create a couple of really good chances through their play on the flanks.

La Roja also pressed high whenever the Swiss tried to play out from the back, and that’s how they scored the only goal of the first half: Yan Sommer made a bad pass, Granit Xhaka slipped inside his own box, and Mikel Oyarzabal was in the right place at the right time to give Spain the lead.

At halftime, the home team was playing better and deserved the lead, but they still needed a good second half to confirm the victory.

SECOND HALF

The final period was quite uneventful, with Switzerland unable to bring pressure or create meaningful attacks, while Spain continued to have possession and try and control the game with the ball. They managed to do that, there were no defensive scares, and the final whistle came to end a pretty comfortable victory for La Roja.

With the victory Spain remain in first place in Group 4 with seven points after three matches, and face a tough game away to Ukraine next Tuesday. Hopefully Ansu Fati can play better then.

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Spain: De Gea; Navas, Ramos, Pau Torres, Gayà; Dani Olmo (Canales 57’), Busquets, Merino; F. Torres (Rodri 88’), Oyarzabal (Gerard 73’), Ansu Fati (Adama 57’)

Goal: Oyarzabal (14’)

Switzerland: Sommer; Widmer (Gavranovic 86’), Elvedi, Schär, Rodriguez, Benito (Zuber 81’); Sow (Vargas 60’), Xhaka, Freuler (Fernandes 86’); Mehmedi (Shaqiri 60’), Seferovic

Goals: None

Source: barcablaugranes.com