Spain 1-1 Switzerland match report: international friendly
A superb Odriozola volley was cancelled out by Ricardo Rodriguez taking full advantage of De Gea's slip-up in the international friendly between Spain and Switzerland at Villarreal's Ceramica Stadium, on June 3, 2018.
Spain - Switzerland match report
Spain will be very disappointed for not taking their plethora of chances in their World Cup warm-game against Switzerland, which finished 1-1 at the Ceramica Stadium in Villarreal.
La Roja completely dominated the game, enjoying about two-thirds of the possession, but could not find away passed the Swiss goalkeeper after their 27th minute goal scored by Alvaro Odriozola. The right back hit a beautifully struck volley from outside the box which ended up in the left hand corner -- his first goal for his country. Switzerland managed to make some chances with the small bit of possesion they had in the first half, but did nothing to really challenge De Gea in goal. Iniesta and Silva were the star men for Spain in the first half, both creating plenty of chances. It was the former's last game for his country on home soil, and he came off to rapturous applause in the 55th minute after having put in an impressive performance.
De Gea gifts Switzerland the equaliser
In the second half, the Swiss side saw even saw less of the ball as Spain's tika taka got into full flow. But completely against the run of play, Switzerland scored with their only real chance of the second half in the 62nd minute, thanks to a very uncharacteristic error from De Gea. Swiss captain Lichensteiner stroke a shot with his left foot, which De Gea really should have swept up. But the Manchester United goalkeeper completey fumbled it, allowing Ricardo Rodriguez to capatalize on his error to easily tap it in.
From then until the end Spain continued to make chance after chance, but could not find the winner and the game finisded 1-1.
Spain - Switzerland minute by minute
Spain - Switzerland preview
Spain get their world cup preparations underway in a warm-up friendly against Switzerland this evening at Villarreal’s Cerámica Stadium, a venue in which La Roja have never lost a match.
Coach Julen Lopetegui, who will lead Spain into a tournament for the first time, is expected to rest all of his Real Madrid players, following their Champions League final last Saturday. Spain go into the game undefeated in their last 18 games, the last of which was the 6-1 annihilation of Argentina in March.
Full strength Swiss side, except Xhaka
Swiss coach Vladimir Petkovic is set to name a full strength side, apart from one noticeable absentee, Arsenal’s Granit Xhaka, who is ruled out due to a thigh injury. Spain will no doubt be wary of the danger of Stoke City’s Xherdan Shaqiri, whose impressive skillsets have earned him the title of ‘The Alpine Messi’.
Despite being ranked higher than Spain (eighth) in the Fifa world rankings, Switzerland (sixth) go into this encounter as the underdogs. This Swiss team, however, are a quality outfit and travel to the Cerámica Stadium on the back of an impressive qualifying campaign in which they only lost one game away to Portugal. Like the Spanish, they also managed to score six goals in their last game in March, in their 6-0 drubbing of Panama, and can boast of a proud record of 12 wins in their last 14 matches.