Vicente del Bosque doesn’t believe David De Gea should be blamed for Spain’s defeat to Croatia and wouldn’t have stopped Sergio Ramos taking a penalty.
Ramos missed from 12 yards while De Gea was beaten via a deflection at his near post as La Roja slipped to second in Group D, and now play Italy in the Round of 16.
“He didn’t have too much work to do, we can’t blame him for the goals. The first was a counter-attack and the second was as well. Everyone is culpable,” Del Bosque argued, AS reports.
“We have a number of penalty takers and the most confident takes it. It’s an option during the game and not for the Coach to intervene.”
Del Bosque named the same XI for the third straight game and was asked if he felt in hindsight he should have made changes.
“They were tired, which is normal at this temperature and with what the opponent demands of you. The physical level was good for this match,” he replied.
“Croatia are one of the best national teams, which I said before. They made five changes, refreshed the team and played very, very well, with great comfort and quality. The ideal was to qualify in first, but we have to recover physically and mentally. The players are experienced to turn around the situation.”
