MURCIA, Spain (Reuters) – Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was left red-faced as a second-half strike by midfielder Martin Zubimendi gave an injury-hit Spain a hard-fought and deserved 1-0 win in Nations League Group A4 on Saturday.
Missing seven of the starters that beat England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final in July, Spain dominated proceedings from early on but it was not until the 79th minute that they managed to find the winner as Zubimendi netted his first goal for his country.
The Real Sociedad midfielder unleashed a first-time shot from the edge of the box that deflected off a defender before squirming under Schmeichel, who should have kept it out.
Spain lead the group at the halfway mark with seven points from their three games, followed by the Denmark on six and Serbia on four, with Switzerland bottom with no points.
“We are very happy, especially in such a tight game in which we had to dig deep to open the scoring,” Zubimendi told TVE.
“In the first half we didn’t play our best football, we left some spaces open in the back that they exploited and could have hurt us but we fixed it in the second half, locked them up and got the job done.”
Spain were missing Dani Carvajal and Rodri due to serious knee injuries while key players such as Nico Williams, Dani Olmo and Robin Le Normand were also absent.
They controlled the game but were wasteful, missing several chances to open the scoring, and were exposed on the counter, with goalkeeper David Raya making two brilliant saves from efforts by Kasper Dolberg.
Zubimendi and Alex Grimaldo wasted promising half-chances early in the game while captain Alvaro Morata missed a couple of clear opportunities later on.
The hosts should have led at the break but Barcelona teenager Lamine Yamal missed an easy chance in the last action of the first half when he took a pass from Pedro Porro in his stride but blasted the ball over the bar.
Spain came out livelier in the second half and took the lead with a little help from Schmeichel who had made two magnificent saves to deny close-range efforts by Morata.
Yet when the ball was flung into the box, Schmeichel appealed for what he thought was a foul by Mikel Merino on Victor Nelsson and was then caught off-guard as Zubimendi’s effort deflected off a defender’s heel and slipped through the distracted goalkeeper’s grasp.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas; Editing by Toby Davis)
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