It was the representative of the British newspaper The Guardianwho admitted after the game that he didn’t know where to begin and therefore couldn’t quite say what to ask. With disarming openness. And he was right, if you could even begin to see how many, sometimes dramatic, absurd internal stories the insane round of 16 match, which Spain had just behind them with 5-3 after extra time, had in store for them. Luis Enrique, Spain coach, took pity on him.
“I’ll give you the headline,” he said after beating World Cup runners-up Croatia, and added in English: “Enjoy football.”
Luis Enrique Martínez García, 51, is not a person who avoids superlatives in his discourse. But he has as a former professional from Sporting Gijón, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona; As a former national player, as coach of Barca B, AS Roma, Celta de Vigo, Barca’s first team and especially as national coach, experienced enough that the exaggeration of what happened in Copenhagen was not so easy.
After a bizarre mistake by goalkeeper Unai Simón in the 20th minute, his team was surprisingly on the ground. She fought her way back, leading 3-1 through goals from Pablo Sarabia (38th), César Azpilicueta (57th) and Ferran Torres (77th) until the 85th minute. Croatia came on 3-2 through Mislav Orsic in the 85th minute, Mario Pasalic equalized in stoppage time (90th + 2). Then Spain drew two more goals, through Álvaro Morata (100th) and Mikel Oyarzábal (103rd). When the game was over and the Spaniards did what they do best – keep the ball in their own ranks – and the Croatians were pumped out, the crowd stood up and applauded for minutes. That got under Enrique’s skin.
“The surprising thing is that football has given us a second chance,” reflected Enrique in the video press conference, and then thought about the leisure activities. “I love the ‘Dragón Khan'”, he added – alluding to an obviously diabolical roller coaster in the “Port Aventura” event park, in English: “Adventure Harbor”, near Barcelona. “But this time the dragon almost devoured me.”
Simón’s mistake is extremely unique, at least at this level
Of course, from a footballing point of view, it would be appropriate to talk about Pedri, who at 18 years of age offered a masterclass, although he had been involved in the 0-1 with his back pass to Simón. Or from Azpilicueta, who ran up and down the right side as a defender, was shaken by convulsions at the end of a monumental game, and scored his first international goal after the 1-1 through Sarabia (2: 1/57). One could also discuss the substitutions of Enrique, who took off a number of players with heavily laden epaulets – and thus thrown his own team out of step. Or about the fact that this Spanish team, which had been certified to have a goal allergy, managed ten times in two games.
But the looks drew two ostracized people who washed their names until they were germ-free: goalkeeper Unai Simón, and center forward Álvaro Morata.
In retrospect, it seems amusing. On the other hand, it is hard to imagine what more atrocities would have followed if this game had been lost. There was a taste of a bitter menu that was not served after all. The first half was not over when anonymous hands had already changed Simón’s Wikipedia entry: Unai Simón, 24, was “a blind and limping goalkeeper for Athletic Bilbao”, it read. Well: His mistake was also extremely uniqueness, at least at this level. A mistake in which one invokes prayers that the earth might swallow one. Especially since there was hardly anyone in Spain who wanted to see him in goal.
Would have loved to have been swallowed by the earth: Spain’s national goalkeeper Unai Simón after he had missed a back pass from Pedri – and put Croatia in the lead.
(Photo: Stuart Franklin / Pool via Reuters)
Simón recently stated in interviews that he was not someone who had mastered the game with his foot, only Enrique asked him to do that. And then came this back pass from Pedri. Quasi from the center line. The ball bounced over the instep of Simón, who was all alone and could only watch the ball jump into the goal. “May I sink into the earth”, that must have been the thought, as I said.
But: Then Simón soared to a monstrous performance, dared to continue playing the ball with his feet, and above all showed that his hands can be magical. In stoppage time he fended off a shot by Matej Kramaric from seven meters. That was the key to the Spanish victory, said both Enrique and the defeated Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic, “we had put them on the ropes …” complained Croatian captain Luka Modric.
“Unai Simón taught everyone a lesson. After a mistake, it is not the mistake that matters, but the attitude you then display. It was a lesson,” insisted Enrique, “for his teammates and all children who want to play football . ” That was the other, more advanced level. The immediate consequence was, of course, that without Simón’s saving hand, Álvaro Morata’s redemption would probably never have happened.
“To experience moments like this, you have to suffer,” said goal scorer Morata
Because the script, carried out by an unknown hand, also said that only this striker was eligible to score the 4-3 that pulverized the Croatian resistance: Morata. After a cross from the Leipzig substitute Dani Olmo – who should also provide the template for 5: 3 by Mikel Oyarzábal and hit the post in the final minute of extra time – Morata took the ball in the penalty area and then volleyed it into the net with his left .
In far-away Spain he threw many people into happiness. He, of all people, who had drawn the fury of his compatriots after his multiple misses from the first three games of the EM. Who reported death threats against himself, his wife and children and spoke openly about seeking psychological help. And who then also said that it would read: “What a good one chico he was … “if something happens in the end.” On the eve of the game, national coach Enrique had said that the police had to investigate the threats.
“To experience moments like this, you have to suffer,” said Morata after the 5-3, which left him completely exhausted: “I’m dead, I just want to go to the dressing room and lie on the ice.” Because it is on Friday in Saint Petersburg against Switzerland, which offered against world champions France the same thing that was performed in Copenhagen, “an epic game”, as Luis Enrique called it. And verily it was.