Switzerland 1-4 Spain: Fabian brace leads 10-man La Roja to victory

By Sports Desk September 08, 2024

Fabian Ruiz’s double helped 10-man Spain claim a comprehensive 4-1 win over Switzerland in the Nations League on a rainy night in Geneva.

Joselu opened the scoring after just four minutes as he latched onto the end of Lamine Yamal’s pinpoint cross to flick goalwards.

The goal was confirmed after some controversy as Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel thought he had clawed it away before it crossed the line.

Switzerland thought they had an immediate response three minutes later but Becir Omeragic had a goal ruled out for a handball in the build-up. Instead, Spain doubled their lead on 12 minutes as Fabian powered home the rebound from Nico Williams’ parried shot.

The Swiss were handed a lifeline as Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red for bringing Breel Embolo down as he went through on goal, and Zeki Amdouni rattled the crossbar from the resultant free-kick.

Amdouni did find the net to bring scores level just before half-time, sweeping home Embolo’s flick-on from a corner after finding himself unmarked at the back post. He nearly had a brace after the restart, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

Instead, it was Fabian with two goals to his name by the final whistle, after he tucked away at the far post in the 77th minute against the run of play before Ferran Torres added further gloss.

Data Debrief: Spain's run rolls on

The writing was on the wall early for Switzerland who have not won any of their last eight matches after conceding first in the Nations League. Spain, on the other hand, are undefeated in their last five matches when they have scored first in the competition.

It means, excluding friendlies, Spain are now unbeaten for 17 matches in all competitions (W15 D2). It is their best unbeaten run under a single manager since Vicente del Bosque was in charge in June 2013.

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    Domenico Tedesco says Belgium are still hurting after their Euro 2024 exit to France as they prepare to meet them in the Nations League on Monday.

    Belgium suffered a 1-0 defeat to France in the round of 16 at the Euros, conceding an 85th-minute Jan Vertonghen own goal to send them crashing out after a poor tournament.

    It was a tight affair when the sides met in July, with both only managing two shots on target, though France's came from 19 overall attempts compared to Belgium's five.

    And Tedesco would rather forget about that meeting as he targets a more positive result this time around.

    "At the European Championship, it was a close one against France. We could have won too,” Tedesco told reporters.

    "France were a bit better, they deserved to win, but we also had our chances. It would be a lie if I said that match is forgotten. It still hurts. I often think about the European Championship, but you also must look ahead.

    "Looking back is not always the best solution. We have to be ambitious; it's been a long time since we beat France in a competitive match with commitment. Let us perform well, and then the rest will follow."

    Tedesco also admitted that Belgium over-prepared for that meeting with France, with their adjustments to the game plan proving detrimental.

    "The last match at the European Championship was different from the one now, it was a knockout match," he added.

    "We learned that we adjusted our own plans a bit too much then. You always have to analyse your opponent, but we adjusted excessively."

  • Clarke believes Scotland 'deserved something' following defeat to Portugal Clarke believes Scotland 'deserved something' following defeat to Portugal

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    Scott McTominay gave Scotland an early lead after seven minutes, but Portugal fought back through goals from Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo to take all three points in Group A1.

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    "I'm disappointed to lose a game where it looked, for a large period, we would get something from it," he told the BBC.

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    "We played well in these two games, but we don't have anything to show for it. I've told the players not to be too hard on themselves. They have to understand the work that we're doing."

    Scotland did well to prevent Portugal from getting any further sight at goal, defending a total of 26 shots during the match with seven ending up on target.

    The 16 shots the Scots had to defend in the opening 45 minutes were the most they have faced in a first-half since October 2012 when Belgium also let loose 16 efforts.

    "With the amount of balls that go into the box, you know one of them can go in the back of the net and that's what happened to us," added Clarke.

    "When you bring quality players from the bench like Roberto [Martinez] can do, you always know there's a risk, but I felt we handled it well.

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    La Roja made an underwhelming start to Group A4 in a 0-0 draw with Serbia but looked back to their best on Sunday.

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    Spain finished the game with just 33.7% possession, understandably low after having just 10 players on the pitch for 70 minutes.

    They had nine shots overall, compared to Switzerland's 20, but got eight of theirs on target while the hosts only mustered three.

    De la Fuente was particularly impressed by Joselu's performance, with the former Real Madrid man setting the tone from the front.

    "I'm very happy for everyone, especially for Joselu because he deserves it," De la Fuente added.

    "He had the best game since he's been with us, he did everything we asked of him, both when we had 11 and when we were down to 10.

    "We were playing a very complete game. Pedri was playing a great game, but we understood that in order to have the chances we had, we had to make that change.

    "We felt very powerful. With 10 players, we played the perfect game, we defended very well, we had a great goalkeeper..."

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