The victory against Germany restores optimism to a team that was depressed since Russia 2018. The National Team will play the European Championship next summer and has suddenly returned to be among the favorites if he is able to play away from home as he did in Seville. This is the only pending subject. But Luis Enrique has seen many all his doubts resolved, one per line, which cast shadows on the team.
Goal: Luis Enrique began his second stage on the bench in Spain with a swashbuckling defense of De Gea, and said that “criticizing goalkeepers is a national sport and De Gea is already a vice.” He pointed to journalists for opening the debate in the goal. But he himself made a decisive contribution to this by indiscriminately rotating De Gea, Kepa, Pau and Unai Simón in the position. Kepa, who started with Robert Moreno, returned to the bench with Luis Enrique, who started with De Gea as a starter. But, counter-forecast, he removed the Manchester United goalkeeper. Who has played the last three games as a starter has been Unai Simón. If the Athletic goalkeeper maintains the level in his team, it will be difficult for him to lose his place in the National Team because his performances against the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Netherlands were remarkably high. We will see if Luis Enrique slows down the doorman dance and with it the debate for which he then blames others. The logical thing would be for Unai Simón to be the starter in the March games, qualifying for the Qatar World Cup, and also one of the fixed ones in the Eurocup next summer. But with the Asturian you never know.
Forward: A case similar to that of the goal. Luis Enrique arrived at the National Team summoning Diego Costa, who was unable to attend his first call due to injury and never returned. He was replaced by Iago Aspas, who went from discard to starter and scored at Wembley in the first edition of the Nations League. Then it fell off the charts. Since then, Luis Enrique has relied more on Rodrigo, Morata and Gerard Moreno, who also came on the rebound after an injury to Oyarzabal. The Villarreal striker, initially outside of Luis Enrique's plans, consolidated himself and thanks to his goal against Switzerland in the last minute he made Spain reach the final match with options against Germany, which he overwhelmed in Seville. But Spain has also played with Ferran and Oyarzabal for false nines, and even some minutes with Ansu Fati. Anyway, from the beginning Luis Enrique has changed his criteria several times not only with the battering rams, but also with the idea. But again we have to go back to the last game, to the exhibition against Germany. There Morata was noted, who later wanted to vindicate himself. It's good that the Juventus striker has that rebellious spirit, but it would be much better if it came out during and not after matches. We will see him in the European Championship, because after re-engaging thanks to his goals in Italy he has reappeared in the National Team with force. Aim for headline. For Luis Enrique it is good news, since if something was not clear to him it was neither the goalkeeper nor the striker. After the game against Germany you can say that you have found them both.
Center: Sergio Busquets has been one of the most important players in the last decade of the National Team, champion of Europe and the World, but to be one again he needs to regain his optimal physical peak. In the present League of Nations he has not been at his level, possibly because he suffers from physical decline. But Luis Enrique has insisted on keeping him on the team even so. In the sad draw against Switzerland Busquets was not the best and Spain did not wake up until Rodri entered the field. That feeling was fully confirmed in the game against Germany. The pair formed by Rodrigo and Koke worked at an excellent level, at a height that had not been seen in the National Team since the days of Del Bosque. Now it is necessary for Luis Enrique to consolidate that idea by giving continuity to both players, as well as Fabián, who must be remembered that he entered Seville due to Canales's injury, and Ferran, who has shown that he is the player with the most arrival of the second line, the most vertical and the one with the most goal. It must be borne in mind that in this last call for the National Team there have been a lack of players who are taken for granted in the list of 23 for the European Championship, among others Navas, Carvajal, Ansu Fati, Rodrigo and Thiago. But with the level that La Roja offered in Seville, those 23 places are going to get expensive until the last moment. The internationals are obliged to play at the best level in their teams so as not to lose their place.
1-4-3-3: Luis Enrique's system has operated at half throttle throughout the qualifying phase. Until the game against Germany, Spain had stalled at seven goals. The goal was an obvious problem that is not washed in a single game, even if it is like Germany. That meeting cannot dazzle, the best of the National Team since the final of Euro 2012, because not all rivals will come out with an approach like Germany, which left spaces in their eagerness to play La Roja face to face. Spain has found other more closed rivals in the Nations League, and did not know how to open them. It happened to him in Ukraine and he lost 1-0, and in Switzerland he saved the furniture in the 90th minute with a goal from Gerard Moreno. The summary is that Spain will go for the Euro if it is able to play from the beginning to the end of the tournament as it did against Germany in Seville, but if it does it as against Switzerland in Basel or Ukraine in Kiev it will have serious problems to pass the first cut. of the knockout phase. We will know in March, when we see in the qualifying matches for the Qatar World Cup 2022 if La Roja recovers away from home and is capable of winning away from home, something they have not done for 14 months, when they defeated Romania (1- 2). The European Championship is not going to be played in Seville.