The first he did Luis Enrique after congratulating his players for the victory in Athens was to ask them to forget to go to the tie in Sunday’s game against Sweden. The Asturian coach insisted that settle for the draw, a result that would be worth Spain after the defeat of the Swedes in Georgia, would jeopardize the classification for Qatar 2022. “He has told us that we must go out as usual, with our style: to look for the rival in his field, to press up and have the ball,” confirmed two internationals to this newspaper. The coach himself was blunt about it: “The worst trap we can fall into is to go out to draw on Sunday. We know that it is convenient for the rival that we go up, to win. But we are not going to give up our style because it would be a serious mistake.”
The Asturian has never revealed that the crash that worries him especially is that of La Cartuja. But their facts indicate so. Because Luis Enrique booked Busquets and Jordi Alba in Athens, who are under penalty. Being one yellow from suspension was enough for the coach not to include them in the starting team. It’s the cotton test. That Luis Enrique reserved ‘Busi’ clearly indicates that the match that worried him the most, and continues to worry him, is the one that remains pending with Sweden.
With the safe presence of the captain, Sergio Busquets, what the coach has to decide now is whether to repeat with double 9 at the La Cartuja meeting. Luis Enrique finished very satisfied with the performance of Raúl de Tomás, although it is not certain that he will repeat as a starter on Sunday. RdT wore out on the left wing and opened holes for Morata, which was also unable to mark. Sarabia did it from the penalty spot, and broke a streak of five maximum penalties (sets apart) sent to limbo. Spain finally got it right from eleven meters, one of the pending subjects since the European Championship.
The National Team spent the night in Athens and trained in the capital of Greece on the morning of this Friday. From there you will travel this afternoon directly to Seville And in the Andalusian city he will wait for the match against Sweden, a match in which Luis Enrique does not even want to hear the word tie, although one point would be enough to secure a direct place to the 2022 World Cup.