La Roja and Portugal faced off this evening at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid. Both are in the final stages of their preparations for this summer’s Euro 2020, which kicks off on June 11th. Portugal are the holders of the competition, while Spain won it before that, and the sides were evenly matched on the night; the game finished scoreless.
Luis Enrique, preparing to take charge of his first major tournament, opted for a 4-3-3 shape prior to kick-off. Unai Simon started in goal, behind a back four of Marcos Llorente, Aymeric Laporte, Pau Torres and Jose Luis Gaya. Sergio Busquets sat in front of them, flanked by Thiago and Fabian Ruiz either side. Alvaro Morata led the line, with Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres in the wide positions. Much of the talk on the final whistle centred on Morata; he had a couple of gilt-edged chances he should have done better with, and could have made all the difference.
It's a beautiful day for it, isn't it? 👀
Fans back in the ground, sun shining and two heavyweight nations 🔥
Football, aye?#LLL
🧡🇪🇦⚽pic.twitter.com/MiTI5CZ3nc— La Liga Lowdown 🧡🇪🇸⚽️ (@LaLigaLowdown) June 4, 2021
Portugal have won the Nations League since lifting Euro 2016, and have some serious operators in their ranks. Bruno Fernandes didn’t start, but heavy-hitters such as Pepe, Joao Felix and Cristiano Ronaldo did. Felix was hoping to make his mark at his home ground only to come off at half-time, while Cristiano, with his future up in the air, was hoping to prove he’s still got it only to fail to score.
