Slovakia 0-5 Spain: 5 talking points as La Roja get into their groove with big win | UEFA Euro 2020

#3 Spain's penalty woes continue

Alvaro Morata became the latest player to miss a penalty for Spain at Euro 2020.

For the fifth consecutive game, Spain missed a penalty after Alvaro Morata fluffed his lines from the spot against Slovakia.

It was their second such instance at Euro 2020, with Gerard Moreno blasting his effort from 12 yards against the upright in Spain's last game against Poland.

#ESP have now missed each of their last five penalties across all competitions.It's their second miss of #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/yawpHSmz7k

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 23, 2021

Moreno let his Juventus counterpart stand over the penalty against Slovakia. But the outcome was no different. Morata was on target, but Dubravka read his movement brilliantly and dived the right way to deny the La Roja striker.

That marked the sixth penalty miss from 11 attempts by all teams at Euro 2020.

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#4 Slovakia cut a listless figure in attack

Slovakia mustered no shots on target against Spain.

With a total of zero shots on target, Slovakia's attacking game went completely missing against Spain.

They were pegged back in their half for an incredibly long time in the match as Spain piled the pressure. Stefan Tarkovic's side didn't quite do enough off the ball either, helping their hosts keep possession of the ball.

Spending a considerable amount of the game in their own half meant Slovakia's forwards, Ondrej Duda and Marek Hamsik, were left devoid of service at the other end. Between the two, there were zero shots attempted. The latter even had to drop a bit deeper in the second half to regain the ball but to no avail. His passes came to nothing either.

Slovakia have been poor in the competition offensively, finishing their Euro 2020 campaign with only two strikes in their goals column (including an own goal in the first game). Only three teams have finished the group stage at Euro 2020 with a lower tally thus far.

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#5 Is this the re-emergence of Spain?

Spain were at their clinical best against Slovakia.

Following two disappointing performances, Spain hit the throttle against Slovakia, so much so that they recorded the biggest margin of victory at Euro 2020 thus far. Aside from the woeful penalty miss from Morata, the hosts got hardly anything wrong on the day. Their second-half performance, in particular, smacked of their old selves that once took Europe by storm.

#EURO2020 Round Of 16🇭🇷 Croatia vs Spain 🇪🇸📅 28th June (6PM)⬇️ Drop your predictions below pic.twitter.com/znAbdrFsqd

— RouteOneFootball (@Route1futbol) June 23, 2021

It's also true that Slovakia weren't the most challenging side on the day. So were Spain just being flat-track bullies, or have they really conjured their best form at long last?

Croatia, Spain's next opponents, haven't really impressed so far either but certainly boast much better quality in their ranks than Slovakia and look a better side on paper too.

It's going to be Spain's toughest outing yet. Their young guns will need to replicate their heroics against Slovakia if they are to advance to the quarter-finals.