Slovakia Coach Jan Kozak has said the victory over Spain means more because of the stature of La Roja in world football.
Goals from Juraj Kucka and Miroslav Stoch gave Slovakia three points on Thursday night, cancelling out Paco Alcacer’s late equaliser.
Kozak told reporters following the final whistle that his side deserved the win and revealed Slovakia took advantage of the attacking substitutions made by Vicente del Bosque.
“We prepared for the match very well. We had strength, our defence was great and we did well with the ball,” Kozak said, AS reports.
“We made very good counter-attacks and they have given us a great victory.”
Iker Casillas’ error led to Kucka’s opener, the goalkeeper failing to stop a powerful but straight free-kick but Kozak argued there was more to the match than that mistake.
“The first goal helped a lot but then came pressure we were able to overcome,” he pointed out.
“Our goalkeeper was extraordinary but the rest of the team was just as good.
“We’ve had to overcome important issues such as the status of Marek Hamsik, who played on antibiotics and didn’t have much strength. By the end he couldn’t stand it.
“Spain are very dangerous and put on constant pressure until they achieve their goal, but eventually they played with only one defender, Gerard Pique.
“That’s something we couldn’t do and we used that to score the winning goal.”
Slovakia beat Ukraine in Ukraine in their first Euro 2016 qualifier but Kozak believes the win over Spain is an even better result.
“This match was much more complicated than when we won in Ukraine,” he continued.
“There’s a lot of merit in beating a rival as great as Spain. It’s a very important victory for Slovakia and one to be enjoyed.”
