(Slovakia – Spain 0-5) The waste of chances seemed to continue when Álvaro Morata burned Spain’s fifth penalty kick in a row. Then they got a helping hand from Martin Dúbravka.
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A terrible pass from Lubomir Satka ended up in the feet of Pablo Sarabia, who knocked it in from a long distance. The ball hit the crossbar and went in a high arc, before falling down again.
Dúbravka should only hit the ball over the crossbar, but instead he almost volleyballed it straight into his own net.
– An embarrassing moment for him, says former England and Manchester United player Gary Neville in ITV’s studio.
In NRK’s studio, Alexander Schau said that he “has not seen such a goal before”, and was probably definitely in on something. Dúbravka’s mistake will remain as one of the mistakes of all time in the European Championships.
Dúbravka had started the match well and saved the penalty kick from Álvaro Morata after just over ten minutes. Ondrej Duda was clumsy when he kicked Koke on the heel.
The Dutch judge Björn Kuipers looked at the VAR pictures and pointed to the chalk mark. Morata, who has received a lot of criticism for having missed many chances so far in the European Championships, also missed the penalty.
In the previous match, it was Gerard Moreno who missed the penalty. Also the three previous penalties before it ended with boom.
PENALTY RESCUE: Martin Dúbravka stops the attempt on Álvaro Morata. Photo: Jose Manuel Vidal / POOL / EPA POOL
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So Dúbravka made the big mistake that led to 0-1. Then he was out on a berry trip also at 0-2. The Slovakian goalkeeper followed Gerard Moreno, leaving his own goal.
Moreno was able to tip the ball into the field – and there stood Aymeric Laporte and scored his first goal, in what was his third international match after the “transfer” from France.
– I do not know what he will do out there. He must let the defenders do the work, says Eni Aluko – with 102 international caps for England – in ITV’s studio.
Spain continued to attack and before the hour was played, Pablo Sarabia put in 3-0 after a great post by Jordi Alba.
After 65 minutes, Álvaro Morata was replaced by Ferran Torres, who did not take long to present himself. With his first touch on the ball, he flicked in 4-0 from close range.
And as if that wasn’t enough: Seconds after Pau Torres was replaced by Eric García, he nodded in Spain’s fifth goal via the leg of Juraj Kucka.
In the second match that went at the same time, Robert Lewandowski looked to arrange a Spanish group victory when he picked up 0-2 to 2-2 for Poland, but in overtime the Swedes put in 3-2.
This means that Spain will be number two in the group and will face Croatia in the quarterfinals on Monday at 18.00, while Slovakia’s poor goal difference means that they will not be among the top four three and are thus out of the European Championships.
Switzerland, Ukraine and the Czech Republic are ready as three of the four best three. Portugal will have to lose by four goals to France for Finland to advance, otherwise the last place will go to third place in Group F.
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