Jurgen Klinsmann claims Spain lack ‘physicality and leadership’ after another Euro 2020 draw with Poland and the respect the country built up over past 20 years has ‘faded’… while Rio Ferdinand SLAMS Luis Enrique’s side for being ‘passive’ and ‘safe’
Jurgen Klinsmann led the criticism for Spain who drew another Euro 2020 match against Poland on Saturday, by saying Luis Enrique’s side lack ‘physicality and leadership’.
La Roja were held to a 1-1 draw by their Group E rivals in Seville, which follows their goalless draw against Sweden last week, as Robert Lewandowski’s second-half equaliser cancelled out Alvaro Morata’s early goal.
Clinical Villarreal striker Gerard Moreno missed a second-half equaliser just minutes after Lewandowski’s goal, with goalscorer Morata fluffing his lines from the rebound – an incident which Klinsmann believes epitomises the Spain players’ lack of taking responsibility.
Spain were held to a 1-1 draw by Poland – their second stalemate in two Euro 2020 matches
Luis Enrique’s side now go into their final group game with Slovakia lying in third place
The former Germany and USA coach told the BBC: ‘They intimidated Spain, who looked a little bit soft and weren’t physical enough, not determined enough, not enough fast in their game or clinical enough.
‘We don’t see that Spain that we are used to. There is no physicality or leadership that you got from a Puyol, Iniesta or Busquets – the kind of players that when things went wrong, they stepped it up.
‘And now when things go a little bit wrong or sideways for Spain they are looking at each other and push away their responsibility and hope for something like the penalty kick they didn’t take.’
Gerard Moreno missed a second-half penalty for a lacklustre Spain with the scores level at 1-1
Jurgen Klinsmann claims Spain are losing the football respect they built over the past 20 years
The result mean Spain lie in third-place in the group, two points behind leaders Sweden and one behind Slovakia, who Enrique’s side face in their final group game on Monday.
The top two teams directly qualify for the knockout stages, with the four best-placed teams in third also reaching the next round. This means Spain will definitely qualify should they beat Slovakia, but will have to wait on other rounds should they fail to pick up three points.
Klinsmann believes that Slovakia, who beat Poland last week but lost 1-0 to Sweden on Saturday, will take confidence from Spain’s first two games that they can hurt their opponents in Wednesday’s crunch tie.
Klinsmann claims Spain do not have leaders like Carles Puyol (left) or Andres Iniesta (right)
The 56-year-old added: ‘They (Spain) are a team in transition, the whole nation. Slovakia will have watched this game saying to themselves, we’ve got a chance here and can survive this. At least get a draw and advance.
‘The respect Spain has had over the past 20 years is kind of fading.’
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand also took a swipe at Spain’s performance against Poland on Saturday night, listing a host of negative words to describe the outing after the full-time whistle.
Rio Ferdinand described Spain’s display against Poland as ‘passive’ and ‘safe’ with ‘no risk’
Ferdinand’s words were: ‘Passive, no risk, safe, no spark – those were the sort of things you saw from the Spanish side.
‘At home, that’s almost illegal to have those type of words put against your side but that’s how they played today.’
Micah Richards added Spain deserved to win the match but several missed chances by first-choice striker Morata has cost them the security of group qualification at this stage.
Goalscorer Alvaro Morata (left) missed a host of chances, including the rebound at the penalty
‘They’re under the cosh. I still think they have got the quality to do something but it’s too laboured, too slow, no key passes.
‘Spain probably deserved to win the match in terms of chances but they have to take the chances.
‘That’s the difference between top level and world class and unfortunately Morata didn’t punish them when they got the chances.’