Following Spain’s elimination to Italy in the European Championship this summer, Spanish headlines declared that the country’s golden age in football was over, that the team were no longer the best in Europe and that their woeful performance at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 was not a one off.
Their ride had been wonderful while it lasted. Previously perennial underachievers, Spain were crowned champions of Europe in 2008 and 2012, champions of the world in 2010.
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Manager Vicente del Bosque, 65, retired to much fanfare. The choice of his replacement, Julen Lopetegui, 50, surprised some outside Iberia. The former goalkeeper played most of his games at Logrones and Rayo Vallecano, plus a handful as Barcelona’s second-choice goalkeeper in the mid-90s, behind Carles Busquets. He had played a similar back-up role at the start of the 1990s at Real Madrid.
Crucially, Lopetegui was well known and respected by people at Spain’s biggest two clubs. He was well known to the Spanish football federation, too.
Lopetegui had coached Spain’s Under 19, U20 and U21 sides with success from 2010 to 2014. He won the European Championship at under 19 and 21 level, in 2012 and 2103. It meant he knew the next generation of players well, before taking the Porto job in 2014. Despite having a big budget and signing seven compatriots, he was not a triumph in Portugal. Two years without a trophy at Portugal’s most successful club of the past 30 years is a failure. He was dismissed at the start of this year.
Strongly linked to Wolverhampton Wanderers over the summer, he instead signed up to replace Del Bosque as manager of the national team. His first game in charge, a friendly against Belgium in Brussels last week, went better than anyone could have hoped.
Spain were superb as they dominated a full-strength Belgium side ranked second in the world by Fifa. Man of the match David Silva scored twice in Brussels as Spain pressed high and won possession back quickly. They were missing their best player, the injured Andres Iniesta, but didn’t struggle without him. Diego Costa, who has never repeated the form for his adopted country displayed in club football, was energetic and effective when he replaced Alvaro Morata as a substitute. It was a joy to see Spain playing with strikers rather than too many mercurial midfielders.
Spain are in a tough 2018 World Cup qualifying group alongside Italy, Albania, Israel and Macedonia. They got off to a positive start with an 8-0 victory over Liechtenstein on Monday in Leon. That result will mean little since the tiny landlocked Alpine nation are likely to lose all 10 qualifying matches, but Spain were relentless.
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Silva thought he had scored their eighth, only for the goal to be ruled offside. He protested strongly to the referee, then went forward and scored another goal which stood. The surprise was that Spain were only leading by a single goal after 55 minutes, but a half-time switch from a Barca style 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 made a big difference against opponents deploying an ultra defensive 6-3-1 formation.
Barcelona’s deeply impressive Sergio Roberto, who plays as a defender for his club and a midfielder for his country, scored a second as Spain hit four goals in 11 minutes, then three more in the last 10 minutes.
That the eight goals came from five different scorers was a plus, especially as Diego Costa's goals were his first for Spain in two years.
Spain have great players, but the national side had become too reliant on older faces in Brazil two years ago, perhaps even a tad complacent. Can the hunger to win the greatest trophies be the same when players have already won them? Newer Spain internationals including David de Gea, Sergio Roberto, Nolito, Vitolo, Koke, Costa, Marco Asensio and Thiago Alcantara have won nothing for their country at senior level.
Spain have slipped to eighth in Fifa’s world rankings. Their next qualifier is a big one, against Italy away next month. They also face Albania away three days later in another tough match before a home qualifier against Macedonia and a friendly away to England.
After those four games, we will have a clearer idea if Spain have rediscovered their mojo, but the early signs are promising.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s impending return a boon for Real Madrid
Cristiano Ronaldo's season is expected to start this weekend when, in agreement with Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, he will play an hour against Osasuna, then 70 minutes against Sporting of Lisbon as the holders open their Uefa Champions League campaign next week.
The Portuguese striker, who added to his substantial trophy collection by collecting the Uefa Best Player in Europe award last month, suffered a knee injury in the final of Euro 2016, a 1-0 victory over hosts France two months ago, and has yet to play since.
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He updates fans with his progress with regular photos of him training and looking extremely toned on his social media feed.
A fit Ronaldo will be needed if Madrid are to repeat their success of last season. They weren't as busy as expected in the recently concluded transfer window, and lost out to Manchester United on the recruitment of Paul Pogba.
Along with neighbours Atletico, they are also expected to have a transfer ban confirmed by world governing body Fifa which will prevent them signing players in the January 2017 transfer window and the next summer window. The European club champions have an exceptional squad, but they are not going to be able to add to it for at least another year, and they sold more players than they bought in the summer.
Ronaldo, 31, remains Madrid's talisman. Just. Although very important in European games last season, Gareth Bale has become increasingly key to Zidane's side. Football is a team game and having two of the world's best players performing will only help Madrid, but despite 51 goals last season, Ronaldo's domestic form spluttered. Many of his goals in the Primera Liga came in spurts against weaker teams. There is little wrong with that, but Barcelona spearhead Luis Suarez was a more effective and consistent player over the entire league season, the Uruguayan pipping Ronaldo to the Pichichi award.
Yet Ronaldo is the favourite to win the Ballon d'Or since he lifted the Champions League and the Euro 2016 trophies, but questions persist about whether he is a declining force – albeit from a very, very high level. Those 51 goals in 2015/16 came in only 48 games. In his six seasons previous to that he scored 61, 51, 55, 60, 53, and 33 in his first season after joining from Manchester United. It is an exceptional strike-rate, but for how long can he continue scoring more than 50 club goals a season? Ronaldo has played 86 per cent of all Madrid games in the past five years and been one of the best two players in the world for close to a decade alongside Lionel Messi.
A statue in the CR7 museum on his own island of Madeira features a plaque which describes him as the best player in the world. That would be disputed by those who have seen Messi, but Ronaldo’s self-belief and ego helps him become the player that he is.
He is expected to negotiate for a new Madrid contract this season and it is a sure thing that he will insist on remaining the best paid player in football. First, he will need to justify that on the field, and he will have plenty of opportunities to do so: Madrid have seven games in 22 days starting Saturday.
Player of the week
By the time David Silva and his Manchester City teammate Nolito boarded a private plane from Leon back to Manchester on Monday night ahead of Saturday’s Manchester derby, they could be well pleased with their contributions for their country. Silva was man of the match in both Spain games, scoring two in each.
Game of the week
Sevilla v Las Palmas, fourth v first. Sevilla are usually strong at home and the high temperatures at 6pm on Saturday in Andalusia would normally help them, but in Las Palmas they are playing a side used to the heat, playing home matches just off the coast of west Africa. Both are unbeaten in their opening two matches. Barcelona are at home to Alves, and Lionel Messi returned from international duty with a hip injury. He could play. Real Madrid are home to Osasuna.
What else?
With no Primera Liga football because of the international break, there was a full fixture list in the Segunda division. Real Zaragoza, the best-supported team in the second tier, head the table after three matches following a last-minute win over neighbours Huesca. They are followed by other former Primera Liga sides Levante, Valladolid, Elche and Cordoba. Spare a thought for Rayo Vallecano, who sit bottom of Segunda following relegation last season.
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