BEVERLY HILLS, June 04, (THEWILL) – Spain and Portugal played to a goalless end in their friendly match on Friday which started off slowly and picked up the pace as the game progressed with chances for both sides to grab a win in the second period, which they clearly flopped.
In the lineup for the Spaniards was a debut face, Aymeric Laporte, the Manchester City defender, who was appearing in the Spanish squad for the first time after switching nationalities from France to Spain. On the Portuguese side, while Cristiano Ronaldo was present, there was no sign of Ruben Dias or Bruno Fernandes in their starting lineup.
Another City player, the young Ferran Torres was very lively and troubled the Portuguese backline looking for the opener. But, it was Portugal who found the back of the net through Jose Fonte. The defender met a corner kick with his head to bury the ball in the net only for the goal to be disallowed as the Lille captain was penalised for a push.
Given the opportunity to lead the attack, Juventus forward Alvaro Morata was profligate and denied Luis Enrique’s side the opportunity to take the lead and win the game in the second half with his wastefulness. Pablo Sanabria was also guilty of spurning another golden opportunity.
As Torres made moves towards breaching the Portuguese defense and Rui Patricio had to be aware of be threat to nullify it, it was Diogo Jota that presented a goal threat for the Portuguese. Unfortunately, his goal attempt, a deflected header, flew over the bar. There was not much of a threat from Ronaldo and he finished with the least touches of any outfield player that played the full game.
With the tie begging for a goal, Pedri and Rodri were introduced off the bench for Spain and contributed to provide Morata with another chance to score a winner in stoppage time, but the Juve man crashed an effort off the crossbar as the contest fizzled out and both sides settled for the deadlock.
The coaches will take the result as a mixed bag, happy not to have lost the tie and unpleased with the overall performance with the outcome not matching the impressive expectations. It will be a lesson for both sides ahead of the commencement of the Euros, though they both still have one more friendly tie each before the continental showpiece begins.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
