Spain debutant Joselu Mato made waves on his debut for the country, scoring twice in the four minutes after he came on for La Roja. However his first start went less well, with Spain falling to a 2-0 defeat to Scotland on Tuesday night.
The criticism for La Roja was fairly heavy thereafter, given the lack of threat they carried in the second half. However Joselu has followed the line cut by new coach Luis de la Fuente and captain on the night Rodri Hernandez. Speaking to Onda Cero, the Espanyol striker made it clear that he felt the turning points had simply not gone in Spain’s favour.
“I think we have done many things well, everyone has the right to fail and have a bad day. If he gives the penalty or the header hits the crossbar goes in, the game would have been seen differently.”
He would then go on to say similar on Cadena SER less than an hour apart.
“When you lose there must be self-criticism and look at things to correct, but that penalty they gave me would have changed everything.”
“They didn’t play football, they found that slip from Pedro Porro, which can happen to anyone. It was one of those games where you have the feeling that you have to do much more than your rival to win. I am convinced that, out of 10, we would have won nine times,” Joselu continued.
One of the things that de la Fuente and Spain on the whole were most criticised for after the match was their own lack of self-criticism in the aftermath of the match.
Despite Joselu’s acknowledgement that it is necessary, there still appears to be little of it. While Spain did have chances in the first half, there is seemingly a disconnect between how the Spain camp felt the match went and how the rest of the world watched on.
Image via ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images
