It was a little late and a little lucky too, but the European champions did eventually get the goal that completed their homecoming. Kasper Schmeichel had resisted for 79 minutes but then Martín Zubimendi, who Liverpool couldn’t convince and whose coach calls the second best midfielder in the world after the man he came in to replace, hit a volley that squirmed beyond the Denmark keeper and into the net. Just when it seemed that they wouldn’t get a goal to go with the Henri Delaunay trophy, 29,870 people erupted in Murcia, Spain’s party ending rather well after all.
Twenty-four shots it had taken, a deflection too. It also took a long VAR check to confirm it, with Denmark’s caretaker coach, Lars Knudsen, saying that the Joselu challenge which saw the ball fall to Zubimendi “didn’t look like shoulder to shoulder to me”. And yet the selección deserved the win that took them top of the group. Schmeichel had made five saves until then, two of them one-on-ones with Álvaro Morata, but ultimately carried some of the responsibility for defeat.
Spain had come for this on an evening that was a celebration of the champions, their first match on Spanish soil since winning Euro 2024, even if not all of them made it. Of the starting XI in Berlin, only Aymeric Laporte, Fabián Ruiz, Lamine Yamal and Morata began here. Unai Simón, Rodri, Robin Le Normand and Dani Olmo, plus Ferran Torres, had been left out of the squad because of injury; Dani Carvajal and Nico Williams then pulled out.
Rodri and Carvajal had suffered the worst fate, falling to torn knee ligaments. And amidst an ever-expanding fixture list, injury has become an obsession, almost a psychosis which dominated the buildup to this match. The concern is especially significant with the 17-year-old Lamine Yamal, and he took a few hits here. “What do you expect them to do, kiss him?” the Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente, said afterwards. “I’d love it to be all flower power but football is football.”
For some, all that mattered was players getting through this unscathed. Not though for Spain’s players, and not for those who lined the streets and the stands here. Certainly not for Zubimendi, who replaced Rodri. “Rodri is the best in the world, irreplaceable, but Martín is the second best,” De la Fuente had said. “He oozes assuredness from every pore; he doesn’t get nervous walking a tightrope with no safety net.” A superb display was rewarded with the winner.
Of the captains’ group only Morata remained. This week he revealed that he had suffered depression and anxiety attacks, needing medication and psychiatric treatment; three months before the Euros, he thought he would not be in Germany at all. Instead he lifted the trophy after years of feeling misunderstood and here he lifted it again, offering it to fans who greeted him with the kind of warmth he had missed previously. “We were looking for that for Álvaro, to give him the affection and love, and I am proud of them,” De la Fuente said. All he was missing, the coach added, was a goal and that was because he had been denied by Schmeichel.
Denmark hadn’t come to pay homage. Top of the group, they wanted to play their part and take their points. In front of 1,500 travelling fans, theirs was the first opportunity too, David Raya saving from Kasper Dolberg.
Spain were on the front foot early on but real chances were few – an Álex Grimaldo shot was saved easily, Zubimendi poked a volley wide and Morata squeezed beyond the far post before Lamine Yamal’s curler was stopped – and the intensity would drop. Denmark were starting to see a way through. “We did some good things in the first half,” Knudsen said. Raya had to be swift after a sharp combination between Christian Eriksen and Albert Grønbæk and another exchange involving Eriksen and Dolberg saw the latter’s cross almost fly in. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s shot then deflected off Laporte and nearly looped under the bar.
When Morata’s shot went well over just before half-time, it drew generous applause where once it might have had drawn groans, and it was the first time Spain had progressed for quarter of an hour. Next Lamine Yamal, clean through, hit over. The second period then opened with Ruiz striking the side netting. Spain dominated but it lacked a little edge, incision. Until, that was, Ruiz’s lovely pass put Morata in. Schmeichel stood in the way then and again when the captain was played in by Laporte.
Denmark seemed to have settled for this but Knudsen insisted: “That’s not voluntary, you have to respect that you’re up against a very good team.” Spain had not yet, the pace quickening again, particularly with the introduction of Álex Baena and Mikel Merino. Lamine’s fast feet worked an opening, the teenager flashing off a shot that Schmeichel saved just as the first Mexican wave began its journey around the ground. Time was slipping away but they were determined to enjoy this anyway. And when the ball dropped to Zubimendi, they could really let go. “I want to thank Murcia; it was wonderful,” De la Fuente said.
