Before the duel between Spain and Sweden: Ibrahimovic has to go to hell – sport

When the players of the Spanish national soccer team wanted to enter the Olympic Stadium in Athens on Thursday evening, they had to prove their vaccination status. What you couldn’t tell: that they had been given a special kind of “booster” when they got off the team bus, in a figurative sense: a strengthening of the immune system through happy news from a small town on the Black Sea.

“¡Gol de Georgia!” They were whispered to, “Goal for Georgia!” And that in turn meant that they could go to their World Cup qualifier with the Greeks feeling invulnerable. Because the goal that was mentioned meant the 2-0 final score for the Georgians against Sweden, who had topped the table before the penultimate matchday of Group B, ahead of the Spaniards. Invulnerability meant: The Spaniards could take on the Greeks in a relaxed state of mind. They won then, anything but brilliant, but at least 1-0. Now the Spaniards, who suffered so badly in the current qualifying round, are unexpected before the Swedes.

One more point, on Sunday in the final matchday against the Scandinavians in Seville – and the Spaniards have the direct qualification for Qatar 2022 in their pockets. The Swedes, on the other hand, would have to win in Andalusia if they wanted to qualify directly. “I’m disappointed. Very disappointed,” said 40-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who returned to the Swedish team for the game in Batumi, a 150,000 coastal city.

“We had so many chances! We should have won the game,” said Ibrahimovic

At the side of Alexander Isak and Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig) Ibrahimovic had made his contribution to the formidable disaster of the Swedes. Not that he was involved in the goals of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, a 20-year-old Rubin Kazan’s attacker (61st / 77th). But he could not only be annoyed that his team’s defense was more innocent than Pippi Longstocking’s little friend Annika against the Georgians who had already left the club. But above all about the fact that he was among those who did not bring any of the officially 15 degrees into the goal.

“We had so many chances! We just had to score, win the game. We’re much better than them, there’s no doubt about that,” complained Ibrahimovic. His trainer Janne Andersson also quarreled, and it was no consolation that he could find an explanation in the empirical data that he had collected as a trainer. “There’s an old truth in football: if you don’t take your chances, sooner or later your opponents will get an opportunity,” said Andersson. “That was such a day.” To the delight of the Spaniards.

Their supporters were ultimately able to generously overlook the fact that Luis Enrique’s team, which was plagued by cancellation due to injuries, also revealed defensive weaknesses in Athens – and as at the European Championship. The ball even landed in the Spaniard’s goal when Giorgos Masouras broke through on a counterattack. However, the Olympiacos striker was clearly sidelined.

Otherwise they only had “pachydermic football” to offer, like the newspaper As piked noted; that means: a single homage to the defensive basic orientation of the concept with which Otto Rehhagel led the Greeks to the title in 2004. The recipe might have worked if the referees hadn’t “looked at Spain with different eyes”, as they did As noticed.

Because the goal came from a generous penalty whistle, after a kick in the shin of Iñigo Martínez, the Polish referee whistled. The Dutch coach of the Greeks, John van’t Ship, asked himself, for understandable reasons, whether the penalty had to be whistled.

Even more remarkable was that the penalty was converted in the 25th minute, the Spaniards had missed their five previous penalties without exception. This time Pablo Sarabia from Sporting Lisbon met, who formed the storm trio with Raúl de Tomás (Espanyol) and Álvaro Morata (Juventus) due to the absence of players like Ansu Fati, Mikel Oyarzabal and Gerard Moreno. Also worth mentioning was Gavi (FC Barcelona), who played like an adult at the age of 17.

“Our style of play favors our opponents,” says Luis Enrique.

Spain coach Luis Enrique doesn’t care that one point is enough against the Swedes. “We’re not going to fall into this trap of playing for a draw,” he said. First, because it usually goes wrong, second, because he is not ready to be unfaithful to his ideas. “Our style of play favors the opponent, but we will press in the attacking third, create opportunities and take risks. There is no point in changing our philosophy,” he said.

In Seville there is a new edition of the European Championship group game, which ended 0-0, the Swedes played similarly defensively at the time as the Greeks in Athens now. Unlike then, the Spaniards can count on full ranks at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville. Luis Enrique was more open and aggressive than ever about the support of the audience: “La Cartuja must be an inferno for the Swedes!”

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