Spain welcome Switzerland to Real Zaragoza’s La Romareda on Saturday night with differing objectives. La Roja are looking to retain top spot ahead of their crunch clash with Portugal next week, while the Swiss hope to gain crucial points towards their survival in the top tier of the Nations League.
Ahead of the match, Spain coach Luis Enrique claimed it had been the best week of training he had had in the job. Both Nico Williams and Borja Iglesias are hoping to make their debuts.
The two sides met back in June in Switzerland, resulting in a 1-0 victory for the Spaniards. However they did not have it all their own way, with their hosts running them close.
Speaking to Diario AS ahead of the game, Swiss manager Murat Yakin made it clear that his side would be hunting down their opponents from the first moment.
“We will go out to press Spain as we did in the second half in Geneva. It should be our point of departure. Going out onto the pitch in the same place that we left the last game against them in which, honestly, I think we deserved to get a point at least against one of the best teams in the world.”
Yakin cut an optimistic figure, seemingly much more pleased with where his team was.
“We know what awaits us tomorrow. The last game was not our best moment and in addition, we were missing important players. Three months have passed and now everything is different. I have everyone available and in form, we depend on ourselves to continue in Group A of the Nations League.”
While the Nations League serves as motivation of some sort, no doubt both sets of players and coaching staff will have more of an eye on the World Cup. It is the final opportunity that Luis Enrique and Yakin have to work with their players before they head to Qatar.
