Spain, a team which after being labelled ‘perennial underperformers’ had finally started showing what they are capable of. They won three major football tournaments in a row, Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012. It was the golden era of Barcelona’s midfield domination with Xavi leading it and it showed for Vicente Del Bosque’s side. But, since then, we have seen a steady decline especially after the humiliating 5-1 drubbing at the hands of Dutch and a first round exit from Brazil in 2014.
It is not easy to pick out certain stars for the demise as there are many different factors like Xavi leaving, a change in the approach of the oppositions etc but we take a look at 5 players who surely could have done better at Euro 2016.
1) Sergio Ramos
Sergio Ramos, El Capitan, in the absence of Iker Casillas was given the armband to lead the La Furia Roja after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid. But he was just not up to his high standards here. His performance went on deteriorating as the tournament progressed.
Although Spain looked defensively solid in the first 2 games but when they were truly tested against quality attacks they failed to cope with aerial balls and set-pieces and were equally vulnerable on counters. The experienced centre-back pairing of Gerard Pique and Ramos who are supposedly good in the air could have done better there.
Also, as far as attacking set-pieces is concerned, once again much more was expected from at least Ramos. We have seen him score some crucial goals for Real at crunch times but he failed miserably for Spain. His shot accuracy was a meagerly 14% and he failed to convert some really good chances even in the game against Italy where it was required the most.
But most of all, it was his penalty miss against Croatia which would hurt Spain the most. It proved costly as Spain went on to lose the game and finish 2nd in their group squaring them up with Italy in the next round.
2) Cesc Fabregas
Cesc Fabregas developed as a young prodigy at Arsenal replacing the midfield steel of Patrick Vieira with his artistry. Since then, he has always been projected as a natural replacement of Xavi in the central midfield both for Barcelona and for Spain alongside Busquets. But, he has never really been consistent. After a forgettable season with Chelsea, this was a golden opportunity for Cesc to show that he can fill in Xavi’s shoes but it was again disappointing.
He ended the tournament with one assist in the tournament and created just 8 chances in 4 games. His link up with the graceful Andres Iniesta was rare and was often pushed wide where he could have some link up plays with David Silva.
One move there resulted in Spain taking a lead against Croatia when Silva slipped in an intelligent ball watching Cesc’s run who squared it to Morata for a tap in. But apart from that, he looked completely ineffective and was neutralised by high pressing against Italy’s midfield.
Cesc was poor in possession in the first two games against Czech and Turkey when the oppositions were allowing Spain to come forward. He improved as the tournament progress but was no way near as effective as the successor he is trying to replace.
3) Juanfran
After having a few good seasons as a vital player for Atletico Madrid, Juanfran has established himself as first-choice right back over Hector Bellerin and Cesar Azpilicueta. He has earned the spot mainly due to his defensive stability and for widening the play on the right-hand side but he failed miserably on both fronts.
Juanfran to begin with, was poor in possession throughout the tournament. He kept on losing the ball and failed to win it back as a result of which there was no proper link-up with either Cesc or Silva. Therefore, he couldn’t do much on the attacking front, when he got the opportunity, crosses weren’t up to the mark and he created 3 chances, none of which were real goal threats.
Coming to the defence, his performance worsened as the opposition’s attack got better and pacier. On an average, Juanfran took 3 defensive actions per game and much lower in the clashes against Croatia and Italy where more was required.
His performances were a mere shadow of his Atletico games and Del Bosque needs to ponder whether he can fit in his system the way he does in Simeone’s.
4) Sergio Busquets
Sergio Busquets is often called one of the most underrated and intelligent players in the world. His movement in the anchor role, intelligently winning the ball and playing key passes goes unnoticed a lot of times. But this time, it was almost truly absent.
Just like Ramos, his performance deteriorated as the tournament progressed. He is not a player who would use physicality to boss the midfield but he was completely outclassed by the Italians. he wasn’t given time and space on the ball to play anything forward and wasn’t allowed too many link-ups either. He just played short passes to Fabregas and Iniesta or was forced to pass backwards by the pressing. Defensively, he couldn’t deal with the pace of the Italians on the counter.
The most important central-midfield underperforming meant that Spain had no chance against a well-oiled opposition like Italy and Busquets’ performance did hurt them real bad. Spain had to switch to some desperate long rangers towards the end but Buffon was up for it and ensured a comprehensive win for the Italians.
5) David de Gea
This seems like a harsh inclusion considering that he had a great game against Italy and kept Spain in the game till extra time. But, it’s his performance against Croatia which was a huge letdown and because of which Spain ended up as group C runners-up drawing Italy and bowing out of the competition.
If you make any list of world’s best goalkeepers, then De Gea would always be somewhere near the top. He has been United’s best player for two seasons running and arguably PL’s best keeper but he has shown a near post vulnerability which is unexpected from a keeper at that level.
Against, Croatia, he looked vulnerable from the beginning when he passed the ball to Ivan Rakitic who ended up hitting the woodwork. After the lucky escape, he was beaten at the near post where he couldn’t have done much but that huge gap from an incoming cross at the near post wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by Del Bosque.
Even though, the match seemed to be heading for a draw when Croatia had a half chance with Perisic on the counter. He was pushed wide and the only way he could have beaten De Gea was going across the goal and nobody expected him to score. But he did and surprisingly at De Gea’s covered near post. Spain ended up losing the game and we all know what came next.
The Spanish goalkeeper has shown similar vulnerability when he was beaten by Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho this season in the Europa League tie at a crunch time. A keeper of his class with the kind of saves he makes shouldn’t be beaten this often at such fundamental levels.
Probably, this is something to look at for the United management as well as Spain as De Gea was picked above Casillas and is considered his long term replacement.
