At the end of Spain’s Nations League game against Croatia in Elche, Luis Enrique was asked how he felt. “Embarrassed,” said the new coach. He was not talking about the way his team had played, he was talking about the moment fans began singing his name. Managers here are not often serenaded, national team coaches even less so, and certainly not after two games in charge. Yet there was no mistaking the sound coming from the stands at the Martínez Valero. That was Luis Enrique’s name ringing round.
“I didn’t expect it,” he admitted but then they didn’t expect this, either. It is eight years since Spain were in the World Cup final and just eight weeks since Croatia were there, but on Tuesday night Spain defeated the World Cup runners-up 6-0. Yes, six. “We’re empty, we fell down after the World Cup. Now we have to rise up again,” said the Croatia coach, Zlatko Dalic.
Spain had fallen down at the World Cup, defeated on penalties by Russia in Moscow, a caricature of what they once were, more than a thousand passes yielding a solitary goal. They too had to rise up.
There were specific reasons for their collapse in Russia – Julen Lopetegui had been sacked just two days before the competition began, changing everything – but some issues appeared to run deeper. They have now failed at as many consecutive tournaments as they conquered, not winning a knockout game in 2014, 2016 or 2018, a reality Luis Enrique referred to when he pointed at his chest and noted: “I’d like there to be another star on this shirt, but I fear that’s not the case.”
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