Even David de Gea is practicing penalties for Spain

La Roja face Croatia in the last 16 of Euro 2020 on Monday, after navigating a tricky group phase with two draws and an emphatic win over Slovakia. A problem for Luis Enrique’s men, however, has been from the penalty spot; they’ve now missed, according to Marca, five in a row, with four different takers; Sergio Ramos (twice), Abel Ruiz, Gerard Moreno and Alvaro Morata.

The national team are rehearsing penalty shoot-outs in every training session. Everyone, including the three goalkeepers in the squad, are taking a penalty, with David de Gea hoping to recover from his missed penalty against Villarreal for Manchester United in the Europa League final. Gerard Moreno, who was on the winning side in that final, and Mikel Oyarzabal are specialists.

The last time Spain missed five penalties in a row was in 1920. La Roja don’t, however, have a good history of penalty-taking in the European Championship. Six of eleven penalties at Euro 2020 have been missed, a statistic Spain have contributed two to.

Tags David De Gea La Roja
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