Match report
Well, that was more fun than the scoreline suggests. Sid Lowe was there in person, and he’ll be filing his report in a while, so keep them peeled for that. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Pre-tournament friendlies are difficult to parse, especially with so many substitutions. One thing we can safely conclude, though, is that Spain would be dangerous if they had a dependable striker. To be fair, twas ever thus; even when they were raking in the trophies during the imperial phase of tiki-taka, they could be extremely frustrating up front. But tonight Alvaro Morata took this charming quirk to extremes, missing a couple of big chances before hitting the bar during injury time with the best one of all. The full-backs looked good, mind, while the keeper grew in confidence, and that midfield is as pretty as ever. Portugal meanwhile will be pleased with their defensive resolve, Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes combined sweetly, and Renato Sanches was a magnificent force of nature. Plenty of plus points for both teams, even if the goals didn’t flow.
FULL TIME: Spain 0-0 Portugal
Not a good evening for Alvaro Morata, who really should have won this for Spain on more than one occasion.
90 min +3: A free kick for Portugal, 40 yards out. Fernandes wedges it down the middle to release Ronaldo, but he should have waited for the whistle. Take two is a non-event ... and that’s that.
90 min +1: Well, they should have! Gaya’s clearance up the left wing sends Morata clear! Easy as that! He’s onside, and one on one with Rui Patricio. He draws the keeper, and ... batters his shot off the crossbar! Another absurd miss!
90 min: There will be two added minutes. Can either of these Iberian rivals snatch it?
88 min: Koke curls the free kick towards the far post. Ferran Torres gets the vaguest flick towards the bottom right. Rui Patricio gets down well to parry clear. That’s a fine save, and it was a wonderful delivery from Koke, though Spain may wonder why one of their forwards didn’t make a stronger connection. Spain have been impotent in the final third this evening.
87 min: Gaya cuts in from the left and is sandwiched by Rafa Silva and Palhinha. Free kick, and a chance to load the Portuguese box.
86 min: The intensity drops alarmingly, much to the crowd’s displeasure. To be fair to both sides, the slew of substitutions can’t have helped.
84 min: It’s not clear how this has remained goalless. Both teams - Spain especially - have had their chances. Best not to peak before the tournament starts, huh.
82 min: ... and he’s immediately in the action, curling a long pass upfield from the left touchline and releasing Ronaldo down the middle! Ronaldo heads forward, but too strongly, and instead of striding towards goal, the ball sails through to Simon.
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81 min: Nuno Mendes comes on for Guerreiro.
80 min: The other Llorente makes his way down the right but can’t quite find Morata at the near post. Then another wave of attack, and Gaya crosses dangerously from the left. Morata tries to poke home, but mistimes his run again. Spain have had their chances.
79 min: Laporte makes way for Diego Llorente.
77 min: Morata sashays down the inside-right channel and cuts back for Ferran Torres, who should score from the penalty spot but allows his unconvincing shot to be blocked by Semedo.
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76 min: Ruiz makes way for Koke, while Moreno replaces Sarabia. A huge reception for Koke, Atletico’s title-winning captain.
74 min: The pace has certainly dropped.
72 min: Sarabia makes good down the left and whistles a low cross through the box. The hapless Morata had gone too early. A slightly better timed run, and that was a tap-in.
70 min: Jota and the excellent Sanches are replaced by Palhinha and Rafa Silva.
69 min: A free kick for Portugal out on the right. Fernandes takes, finding Ronaldo six yards out. Ronaldo leaps high but glances his header wide left. You’d expect him to score.
67 min: Ferran Torres glides in from the right and yanks a weak shot right. Things were opening up for him there; he should have done much better.
65 min: Simon’s footwork in the first half was nothing short of appalling; here it’s absolutely delightful, as Garcia gives him a hospital pass. With Ronaldo and Jota bearing down, he executes a perfect pullback, sending Jota off to the shops, and rolls clear. Proper bullfighting brilliance. Olé!
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63 min: Spain make a triple change: Thiago, Busquets and Pau Torres off, Pedri, Rodri and Eric Garcia on.
61 min: One corner leads to another, which leads to nothing.
60 min: Now it’s Portugal’s turn to miss a sitter. Ronaldo takes on Llorente down the right, reaches the byline, and stands one up for Jota, whose header from six yards is deflected over. He should have buried that.
59 min: Portugal make a couple more changes. Carvalho and Bruno Fernandes come on for Pepe and Oliveira. Here’s Charles Antaki: “Classy stuff from Busquets, which prompts the question of the last 10+ years in the Spanish National team – if not him, then who? Koke has been in and out of the team, Saúl likewise.. if we have to get down to the Dani Ceballoses, alarm bells.”
58 min: Pepe tries to shepherd a long pass down the Spanish right out of play. Llorente doesn’t allow him to do so, stealing the ball and cutting back for Sarabia ... who scoops over an unguarded net from 12 yards! What a miss!
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56 min: Spain continue to dominate possession, though haven’t created much, that Morata chance being a glowing exception.
54 min: Llorente rolls a lovely pass in from the right to tee up Morata, clear just inside the box. Morata aims for the bottom left. Fonte blocks. The ball pings back to Morata, who aims for the bottom right this time, but drags it hideously wide. He should have scored. A look of misery washes over his face.
52 min: Laporte deals with the resulting corner, heading clear. Much better, though the bar was low.
51 min: Laporte attempts a clearing volley with his right peg. A hysterical slice sails into the crowd behind. Predominantly left-footed, then. What a way that would have been to mark his international debut!
50 min: A bit of space for Morata down the inside-right channel, slipped through by Busquets. Morata bashes his shot straight at Rui Patricio. He should have made the keeper work harder, at the very least.
49 min: Morata glides down the right. Pepe again has his antenna on, and intercepts once more. The old boy’s having a good match so far.
47 min: Pepe blooters into touch. By the dugout, Spain boss Luis Enrique brings the high ball down with a silky touch, much to the delight of the paying punters.
46 min: Busquets shovels a lovely pass down the inside-left channel for Sarabia, who chests down as he cuts infield. Pepe is on hand, though, to intercept just when it looked as though Sarabia was through.
Portugal get the second half underway. They’ve made the first change of the evening, swapping Joao Felix for Sporting striker Pote, who is making his international debut. “That tooth-brushing advert looks like an early David Lynch production,” writes Mary Waltz. “Creepy.” Yep, it was the first ad ever shown on British television, and it’s been non-linear narratives a-go-go ever since.
The players aren’t the only ones who should do some pre-tournament prep. Ahead of the Euros, history buffs are advised to bone up on 60 years and 15 tournaments’ worth of action with Euro Summits: The Story of the European Championship by Jonathan O’Brien. Breezy yet comprehensive, fun but authoritative, think of it as a perfect companion piece for Cris Freddi’s famous Complete Book of the World Cup, and I can’t think of praise too much higher than that. Highly recommended.
HALF TIME: Spain 0-0 Portugal
Just a few extra seconds of play, and that’s the end of an entertaining, occasionally feisty, first 45.
45 min: Sanchez tries to release Ronaldo down the left, but his pass is too heavy. Ronaldo tries to catch it, turning on the jets, but can’t quite reach it. He’s not completely out of juice yet.
44 min: The corner leads to nothing.
43 min: Busquets slides a crisp, first-time pass down the inside left. Ruiz steps into the box, drops a shoulder, and sees his low squirter deflected wide for a corner.
41 min: Sanches has been very impressive. He drives down the inside-right channel and thinks about shooting. He lays off to Ronaldo to his right. Ronaldo has a think himself, then pulls back for Semedo, who shows no such hesitancy, battering a wild effort miles over the bar. Ronaldo, hands on hips, wonders why he bothered.
40 min: Corner for Spain down the left. Ronaldo heads it clear. It’s been good fun, this.
39 min: Peseta for the thoughts of the deposed David de Gea.
37 min: Simon has not impressed so far. He’s already had the ball stuck past him, and was nearly closed down when faffing about with Busquets. Now here comes the worst of all. Gaya slides in to stop Sanches’s pass finding Ronaldo down the inside-right channel. The ball balloons into the air. Simon isn’t sure whether to catch or not, so opts to volley. His low hack smashes straight into Ronaldo and nearly whistles back past his lugs. He catches just in time. What a nonsense.
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35 min: Now Sanches brings down Sarabia, and the crowd are baying for blood. There’s still no booking, though, and the referee gets this one absolutely right, Sanches having slipped over and accidentally cleaned his man out.
34 min: Sanches is very lucky to escape a booking as he clatters into Gaya. There might have been a couple of studs showing there, in fact. The referee makes do with a lecture.
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33 min: Spain have been taking a few chances when playing out from the back. Simon and Busquets were nearly punished for over-elaborating a few minutes ago, some slapstick deemed worthy of a rerun on Spanish television. A lull, basically.
31 min: More of the pantomime booing, as Ronaldo takes possession of the ball. This is Atletico Madrid’s stadium, to be fair, he’ll be expecting it.
29 min: That was a timely attack by Spain, though, because after a slow start, Portugal were beginning to work their way into the game. A reminder how quickly they can spring forward.
27 min: A huge chance for Spain, as Morata, with the outside of his left boot, curls from the left wing, the ball dropping towards Ferran Torres at the far post. Torres should score, Pepe having been completely bypassed, but flashes his header wide right from close range.
26 min: A free kick for Portugal, the best part of 30 yards out. It’s tapped to Ronaldo, who considers belting it goalwards, but instead embarks on a dribble down a cul-de-sac. What a waste.
24 min: It was the right decision, though. Fonte was all over Pau Torres, so much so that the defender didn’t need to make any theatrical additions ... but did so anyway.
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23 min: Portugal win their first corner of the game ... or rather Ruiz gifts them it. It’s hit long from the left. Fonte rises, ten yards out, and sends an unstoppable looping header over Simon and into the top left! But the whistle immediately goes for a foul. Ronaldo is livid.
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21 min: Sanches takes matters into his own hands, and embarks on an elegant skitter down the inside-right channel. He nearly works his way into the box, but throws one shape too many and Pau Torres is able to block and clear.
19 min: Spain continue to stroke it around attractively, and when they don’t have it, swarm their opponents with great determination. Portugal are struggling to retain possession, and a certain forward is doing quite a lot of frowning and pointing, having seen very little of the ball.
17 min: Sarabia’s pressing forces Semedo into the clumsy concession of a corner ... but the referee points for a goal kick. More pantomime booing.
16 min: Spain have enjoyed a nice neat 75 percent of possession so far.
14 min: Oliveira clatters into Morata, having just been robbed by Thiago, an unnecessarily fierce challenge that should bring censure, but doesn’t. A kick out on the follow through. Play goes on, and Spain force the first corner of the match. Nothing comes of it, but the hosts are well on top here.
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12 min: And now the reigning European champions show a bit of flash, Jota coming in from the left and wedging to the far post. A cute and clever run, but the hosts clear their lines easily enough.
10 min: Sarabia drives in from the left and one-twos with Morata. He dinks towards Llorente, preparing to slam home, six yards out. Pepe somehow contorts his body to improvise a prodded clearance. That was lovely football from the three-time European champs.
9 min: Rui Patricio takes his own sweet time over a clearance, much to the pantomime annoyance of the crowd.
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8 min: Spain have established control of this game quickly. Plenty of passes in the old-school style, some tiki here, a bit of taka there. Put it together, and they’re probing with purpose down both flanks.
6 min: Jota comes in from the left and is upended unceremoniously by his Liverpool team-mate Thiago. No favours here.
5 min: Torres looks lively. He spins infield from the right and glides into the Portugal box. Fonte sticks out a leg and puts a stop to his gallop with a well-time tackle.
3 min: A long pass down the Spanish right. Ferran Torres gets on the end of it, cutting back to ... nobody in particular. But that’s a promising start for the hosts, who found the Portuguese defence wide open.
2 min: It isn’t too long before Busquets comes sliding through Danilo. Welcome to the Wanda.
Spain get the party started, in front of 20,000 fans. They’re back, baby! Spain are in their furious red, while Portugal sport second-choice teal.
The teams are out. Apologies for the late arrival of this MBM, we had a few technical issues to iron out. Everything’s been switched off and back on again, and here we are. Hey, this sort of tardy foolishness is in the grand tradition; one of Granada TV’s first foray into live coverage missed the first four minutes of a European Cup semi featuring the Busby Babes. They had ads to show, and people needed that sweet, fresh hit of Gibbs SR. We’ll be off in a minute or two.
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The teams
Spain: Simon, Marcos Llorente, Laporte, Pau Torres, Gaya, Thiago, Busquets, Fabian, Sarabia, Morata, Ferran Torres.
Subs: de Gea, Azpilicueta, Diego Llorente, Koke, Gerard, Garcia, Rodri, Jordi Alba, Olmo, Oyarzabal, Gonzalez, Sanchez.
Portugal: Rui Patricio, Nelson Semedo, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro, Sergio Oliveira, Danilo Pereira, Sanches, Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Jota.
Subs: Lopes, Joao Moutinho, Andre Silva, Bruno Fernandes, William Carvalho, Rafa Silva, Neves, Goncalves, Nuno Mendes, Joao Palhinha, Rui Silva.
Referee: Craig Pawson (Dear old Blighty).
Preamble
Welcome to some hot bonus MBM action, hand-crafted with precision tools to whet your appetite for the upcoming Euros. It’s a friendly between Spain and Portugal. They’re Iberian rivals, two of the best teams in the world … and the two most recent winners of the European Championship. ¡Esta encendido! Está ligado!
Portugal are the reigning champions of Europe. Euro 2016 was their first-ever major title, and since then they’ve added the inaugural Nations League in 2019. The dam thus broken, there’s a fair chance they’ll retain their title, their squad including Bruno Fernandes, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Diogo Jota, Andre Silva, and, to give him his full title, 36-Year-Old Cristiano Ronaldo.
If they manage it, they’ll become only the second nation to keep hold of the Coupe Henri Delaunay … Spain being the first. The Euro 2008 and Euro 2012 winners are the joint most successful country in European Championship history, also having won in 1964; fellow three-time victors Germany pip them on countback, having more runners-up finishes to their name. Few would be too surprised if they reclaim their crown next month and make it four, with a squad filled with the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Jordi Alba, Pau Torres, Sergio Ramos, Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago, Rodri, Adama Traore and Ferran Torres.
Other potential winners are available, but these are the two we’ll be watching tonight. Their last meeting was a 0-0 friendly draw in Lisbon last October; let’s hope tonight’s game is a bit more like the one before that, the sparkling 3-3 draw in Sochi at the last World Cup. Kick off at Atletico Madrid’s Wanda Metropolitano is at 6.30pm BST, 7.30pm local. It’s on!
