“I know a lot about football” – Luis Enrique is annoyed about Spain’s narrow victory
Spain coach Luis Enrique was in a testy mood as he defended his side’s performance after beating Switzerland 1-0 in the Nations League on Thursday.
Pablo Sarabia scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute when he completed Marcos Llorente’s run across the box into an easy tap after a quick regain of possession.
The fact that Sarabia’s goal came in this scenario spoke for the type of Spain’s possession over the 90 minutes, with Switzerland firing as many shots with 34 percent possession as La Roja with 66 percent.
When asked about Diego Llorente’s second start in three games after making just three games in this international window since 2020, Luis Enrique went on the front foot in both selection and approach.
“I know a lot about football and he does [Llorente] comes because he’s one of the best,” ‘Luccho’ said. “He played non-stop. Both he and Pau [Torres]. they found [Sergio] Busquets many times, which is important.
“Marco Asensio gave us things. Morata was spectacular and with both of them as our number 9, they gave us favorable scenarios.
“Yes, when they press us, they put us on one side of the field and we don’t have any solutions. If you do it very well, you can hit a ball forward and we change their pressure.”
“We’re good at that too, but that’s not our identity. Our identity is playing with the ball. In these games I insist. You have to have personality to be able to play.”
Similar to the EM quarter-finals in 2020, Switzerland was able to create switching problems in a targeted manner, while remaining compact in defensive phases in order to largely deny Spain sustainable scoring chances.
It was a constant theme for Luis Enrique’s side in this start to the Nations League, where high possession rates in draws against Portugal and the Czech Republic failed to translate into dominance in terms of shot volume and quality.
The 52-year-old Spain coach cited the quality of Switzerland as a team and their home record – where they have been unbeaten in a competitive game since 2014 – to validate his own side’s performance.
“Switzerland is at the World Cup and will cause us problems” said Enrique. “For me, the mistake is not having the ball at the other end of the field. We defend with the ball.
“The result decides everything. That’s how football works. This team has played 23 games without losing an official home game. It’s very difficult to win away from home. It cost, how could it be otherwise.”
“The game is defined by the result. I’m happy about the spirit of the players and their attitude. It’s a positive game that gives us the opportunity to still rely on ourselves.
“Switzerland has been unbeaten for eight years, 23 official games without a home loss and we had the opportunity to beat them.”