Spain head coach Luis Enrique believes critics of his side could have nothing to complain about after their 5-0 rout of Slovakia sealed their spot in the Euro 2020 last 16.
Luis Enrique's Spain had been subject to boos from their fans along with media criticism following 0-0 and 1-1 draws with Sweden and Poland respectively in their opening two Euro 2020 games, both in Seville.
A lot of the attention has centred on forward Alvaro Morata, who missed an early penalty against Slovakia, but Luis Enrique's side turned around those woes with an emphatic display, securing the biggest win of Euro 2020 so far.
The victory also equalled the largest margin of victory in a game at the European Championships, Spain becoming the fifth different side to win by five goals in the tournament (after France and Denmark in 1984, the Netherlands in 2000 and Sweden in 2004).
Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres all netted along with two own goals as Spain secured second spot behind Sweden in Group E, setting up a last-16 date with Croatia.
"I believe people can have plenty of complaints, but I really don't think there can be any criticisms of today," Luis Enrique told his post-game news conference.
"We will prepare for the last-16 with plenty of confidence and we're desperate for Monday to come around soon."
He added: "It is a relief. Not just for me, but in terms of what it means with our ability to achieve a convincing result with our style."
The former Barcelona boss added that they would "pop a bottle of Cava" to celebrate their progress but wanted more in the knockout stage, with his lofty expectations unchanged.
"We will go step by step. I've spoken about what I believe we can achieve and the expectations we have as a national team and I haven't changed my opinion," Luis Enrique said.
"We have certainly popped that bottle of Cava, therefore we are delighted, we are pleased the fans and players have had a good time.
"Now it's time for us to get another bottle of Cava and see if we can pop that too."
Spain will take on Croatia in Copenhagen on Monday, with the teams last meeting twice in 2018 via the Nations League.
Croatia won 3-2 in Zagreb, while Spain thrashed the 2018 World Cup finalists 6-0 in Elche in those encounters.
"They are a top team with players we know well, we played in the Nations League two years ago as well," Luis Enrique said.
"It will be a tough match but when you get to last 16 you can't expect easy teams."
Finals are 50-50 – Kevin De Bruyne not saying City are favourites to beat Inter
Kevin De Bruyne does not believe Manchester City are favourites to beat Inter Milan in the Champions League final and secure the win they need to complete the treble.
City are well fancied to beat the Serie A side on Saturday in Istanbul and become the first English club to win all three major trophies in a single season since Manchester United in 1999.
They moved a step closer on Saturday by adding the FA Cup to the Premier League title already won, with Ilkay Gundogan’s goals helping Pep Guardiola’s side to a 2-1 victory against United at Wembley.
Until now Guardiola and his players have largely sidestepped any talk of matching their city rivals’ feat of 24 years ago.
But after the cup final victory, De Bruyne acknowledged how close he and his team-mates were to a remarkable achievement, yet stopped short of saying they were favourites to beat Inter.
“There was belief anyway but there was no point talking about it before,” he said. “We know now. I want to win the Champions League and I want to win the treble but we were getting ready to win this game (against United).
“We deserved to win. I am very happy and very proud. We should enjoy next week and hopefully we can perform the best we can.
“Inter are a very good team. Finals are 50-50. We were favourites today. It is always difficult. You have to manage these moments. There will be moments when it is tough but in the big moments we try to do our job.
“Inter have great players and we have respect for them. They haven’t got to the final by beating easy teams.”
De Bruyne will be looking to exorcise personal demons from the last time he played in a Champions League final, fracturing an eye socket and breaking his nose as City went down 1-0 against Chelsea in an all-Premier League final in Porto.
“That is football,” he said. “I have never broken anything in my life and I come out of the Champions League final with a broken nose, a broken eye socket and concussion.
“It happens. There is nothing more I can do. I wished it was better but it wasn’t.”
Guardiola’s team were knocked out in the last four by Real Madrid last season despite holding a two-goal aggregate lead going into the final moments of the second leg.
The Champions League is the only major honour that still eludes the club, with Guardiola not having lifted the trophy since his second triumph with Barcelona in 2011.
Asked if he believed City were finally ready to take the next step in Europe, De Bruyne said: “I can answer that question next week.
“I don’t see it that way. We have performed really well. We have been in so many quarter and semi-finals and two finals. We have been there most of the time.
“Depends who you ask (whether City need to win in Europe to earn recognition). Most of the guys have been incredible anyway. Will it help, yes.
“But one 90 minutes doesn’t define a career. I am on around 700 games. One 90 minutes out of 700 doesn’t define my career. But obviously it helps.”
Newcastle owners take majority stakes in four Saudi clubs including Al Nassr
The Saudi sovereign wealth fund which owns Newcastle has taken majority stakes in four of the Middle Eastern country’s biggest clubs, including Cristiano Ronaldo’s team Al Nassr.
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is taking 75 per cent stakes in Al Nassr, Asian Champions League finalists Al Hilal, Al Ahli and Al Ittihad, who are understood to be interested in signing Karim Benzema after his intention to leave Real Madrid at the end of the season was confirmed.
The PIF also own an 80 per cent stake in Newcastle following the completion of a protracted and controversial takeover in October 2021.
Sources close to the fund have told the PA news agency that the move to take controlling stakes in the four Saudi clubs does not constitute the creation of a multi-club ownership model involving Newcastle.
Each club will be managed by an independent board and have separate executive management, the sources said.
Clubs in the Saudi top flight, who have technically been owned by the country’s Ministry of Sport until now, are being privatised as part of a government initiative to help the sport further develop.
FIFA has been approached for comment on the issue.
A statement on the PIF Twitter account read: “As part of today’s announcement of the Sports Clubs Investment and Privatization Project, four Saudi clubs – Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Al Nassr, and Al Hilal – have been transformed into companies, each of which is owned by PIF and non-profit foundations for each club.”
PIF said existing members of each club would be included in the four foundations and that the fund was working closely with the Ministry of Sport on the necessary regulatory procedures to complete the clubs’ transfers to their new structures as newly-founded companies alongside non-profit foundations.
“The transfer of the four clubs will unleash various commercial opportunities, including investment, partnership and sponsorships across numerous sports,” the PIF statement concluded.
The Saudi government said in a release from the country’s national press agency issued earlier on Monday that it hoped that as well as further bolstering participation in sport at grassroots level, the move to privatisation would raise the league’s revenues from 450million riyals (£96.7m) last year to 1.8 billion riyals (£386.7m) and increase its market value to more than 8bn riyals (£1.72bn) by 2030.
The extent to which the Saudi government controls Newcastle came back into the spotlight in February this year after the publication of court documents in the US.
The Premier League approved the PIF-led takeover of the club only after receiving “legally-binding assurances” that the Saudi state would not have control of the club.
However, documents from PIF’s legal team published in a court case related to the LIV Golf and PGA Tour dispute described PIF as “a sovereign instrumentality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and PIF governor and Newcastle chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as “a sitting minister of the Saudi government”.
The Premier League has declined to comment on whether it had opened an investigation following the publication of the court documents.
Chelsea agree deal for Ecuadorian teenager Kendry Paez
Chelsea have agreed a deal to sign midfielder Kendry Paez from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle with the teenager joining the club when he turns 18 – in 2025.
Paez has just six senior appearances to his name and became the youngest debutant and goalscorer in the Ecuadorian top flight having found the net when he made his bow in February.
Paez also made his Copa Libertadores debut in a win over Corinthians at the start of last month.
The 16-year-old captained his country at the Under-17 Copa America and registered a goal and three assists as he started all four of Ecuador’s recent Under-20 World Cup matches.
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