Netherlands 1-Spain 1 | Laboratory tie

Tie in Amsterdam. Neither cold nor hot, someone will say; a positive balance, whoever pulls statistics will think, since to date Spain had ended all its visits to the Netherlands with defeat. The truth is that the National Team gave a first part of height in which Canales, Koke and Morata made us see the glass much fuller than we used to. Also Éric García or Unai Simón. Let's stay with those details of what was a laboratory draw with a view to the real football that awaits Saturday and Tuesday in the Nations League.

Initially, Luis Enrique opted for revolution over revolution, which is what friendlies are for. It was enough to see the goal and the defense to realize how much the Asturian had shaken the shaker. Good. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in that kind of long-term casting, because next year a European Championship awaits us in which we cannot fail. Bellerín returned to the National Team four years later and joined a defensive line in which a priori only one starter was glimpsed, Gayà, who is seriously fighting with Reguilón to gain the patrimony of the left back. His great game last Sunday against Real Madrid was without a doubt the best of the credentials to win the position. Although that opens the obvious mystery: if he plays the friendly, will it be that on Saturday, against Switzerland, he will see the game from the bench? The rest of the starting eleven responded to a more logical pattern, with the rojiblanco accent provided by Koke, Rodri or Morata.

Holland, however, wore an eleven more similar to the gala. It is evident that Frank de Boer does not want to miss opportunities to win over the fans, since his stage in the national team pricked upwards with one defeat and two draws in the three games played.. Only in this way is it understood that he would bet on a guaranteed center of the field on which to support a team with plenty of talent and youth. Frenkie de Jong, who in the previous one complained about the saturation of the calendar (“the friendlies with the Dutch team were not necessary. They are not games that give the points or something for a classification”), returned to the grass on which he was so happy. I do not mean to say that at the Camp Nou it is not, but we have not yet seen the player who dazzled at Ajax with the Barça shirt. He has touch, stride and periscope vision to see what many fail to see, not even from the top of the stands or from the sofa in front of the television. And that ability, not to get nervous when everything accelerates, is one of the most precious assets in football. Next to him, De Boer lined up two pillars of the Oranje, Wijnaldum and Van de Beek.

The start of the game brought positive news in Spain, that of its good staging with the team pressing up, and a negative for Holland with the early injury of Aké. The Manchester City center-back was injured after four minutes and had to be replaced by Blind. And to this corresponded the hard task of dancing with the ugliest, Morata. The Juventus forward returned to the National Team a year later. In the absence of nines, Luis Enrique lined up two. The bianconero, in central positions, while Gerard Moreno fell heeled to the right wing. Morata was the benchmark, but in continuous movement, going down to receive towards the midfield and immediately unloading to the extremes. He did damage with those maneuvers. And in one of them it was lethal, because his pass was finished off on goal by Canales, who made his debut in this way in his scoring role with La Roja. It was the award for dynamic football that the National Team had exhibited in those first twenty minutes.

Holland took a few steps forward. It was necessary to press the exit of the Spanish ball, but those of Luis Enrique were faithful to the style book. Unai Simon, who made his debut in the National Team, did not raffle a pass, each offensive was gestated with the transfer of Athletic's goal to Éric García or ïñigo Martínez, both plethora, who came out playing despite having the rival orange breathing down the neck.

After half an hour, luck this time eluded Spain. Gayà was injured after colliding in a jump in the area with Hateboer. The Valencian winger had to leave his place to Reguilón. Right in the subsequent action, Holland claimed a penalty for a push from Bellerín. There was no VAR like there is no VAR in the Nations League, which is something like having to give the crank again when we had become used to the electric window. So the referee, Davide Massa, had the strange task of … refereeing. It was actually just a jump, a struggle like there have been millions since football is football. He did not whistle a penalty. Play …

From there to halftime, the game followed the same script, with Canales as an engineer when creating danger in attack. It was understandable that in the resumption there would be a change of stickers because that's what friendlies are for. But the ER was Dutch, so De Boer slammed in Dumfries, De Vrij, Klaassen and Stengs. And the effect was immediate because in the first attack, a cross from Wijndal's left was finished off arriving from the second row by Van de Beek. An oversight, a goal against. So easy and hard for Luis Enrique, who was stirring on the bench.

But Spain reacted well, with two consecutive shots from Koke and Bellerín. Immediately, offensive relief of Luis Enrique, who gave entry to Ferran, Olmo and Adama by Asensio, Morata and Gerard Moreno. In minute 67 'came the big scare in a counterattack excellently guided by Oranje. The ball was left to Depay, who from the penalty spot had everything in his favor, but his low shot into the post's vine was cleared for a corner by Unai in what was the stoppage of the match. From there to the end, Marcos Llorente's debut and little else. Just the gesture for history when Luis Enrique entered Ramos (by Íñigo Martínez), which in this way reaches Gianluigi Buffon as the European player with the most national team matches: 176. It was like blowing out the candle on a birthday that started a lot more animated than it ended.