Photo: AP
Duesseldorf, Germany: With a 1-0 victory over Albania, who were eliminated on Monday, Spain maintained their perfect start to the European Championship despite nearly changing their whole lineup.
With his team already guaranteed to win Group B, coach Luis de la Fuente altered ten of his starting, and Spain won all three group games at the Euros for the first time since 2008, when it won the tournament.
Spain finished the group stage without conceding a goal thanks to goals from Ferran Torres in the thirteenth minute and a stoppage-time save by goalie David Raya against Armando Broja.
“Every player is ready to play in this first 11 and that’s key. Anyone can decide a game for you and players coming off the bench are very important as well,” Torres, who made his first start of Euro 2024, said through a translator. “I will try to make things difficult for my coach so that he will have to play me.”
Torres scored when Dani OImo's pass deflected off the post, and he celebrated by putting his fingers to his ears. He explained that the motion suggested he was listening to the people and not blocking anything out. “I don’t have anything to prove out there,” Torres added.
Albania needed at least a draw to have any chance of making the knockout stages for the first time, despite being one of the top third-place teams. It came in last because of the defeat.
Regardless of what transpired in their final group matches, England, France, and the Netherlands were guaranteed spots in the knockout stages due to Albania's inability to defeat Spain.
All of the teams have four points after two games and would be considered one of the better third-place teams.
Spain won 1-0, but it was significantly less convincing than its previous triumph by the same margin against Italy. Aymeric Laporte, the defender, was the only player to start both, AP reported.
Albania was missing attacker Mirlind Daku, who was suspended by UEFA on Sunday for joining supporters' nationalist chanting with a megaphone after Wednesday's 2-2 draw with Croatia.
Spain will face a third-place team in Cologne on Sunday in the round of 16.