 |
| Gerard Pique celebrates goal for Spain against Czech Republic |
FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique scored the only goal of the game to help Spain to a narrow 1-0 win over Czech Republic in their opening game of the Euro 2016 tournament with midfielder Andres Iniesta pulling off one of the best performance you will see this tournament.
The game looked like it was destined for a draw until two Barcelona players, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique combined for the latter to head home a cross by the former with just 3 minutes left to play, giving Spain a hard-fought win against a defensively-sound Czech Republic team.
Czech Republic started brightly getting a host of possession in the Spain's half but it was only a matter of time for La Roja to settle and start to control the game. Vicente del Bosque's men saw a very large share of possession as expected but were lacking in front of goal as main striker Alvaro Morata was without his scoring boots.
Iniesta was the best player on the pitch by a mile and created a host of chances that were wasted by the forwards. Morata fired a shot wide from the left and also had Spain's best chance of the first half after meeting David Silva's cross but his shot was well saved by Petr Cech who was in outstanding form.
It was all Spain in the second half with Czech Republic defending all the way, a draw would have been satisfactory for them and they had the post to thank early after the restart as it prevented Czech player Hubnik from scoring an own goal.
Aduriz was introduced for Morata as Spain needed a fresh leg in attack and the Athletic Bilbao striker posed more threat in front of goal. Jordi Alba missed a glorious chance to give Spain the lead in the second half after being set up by a lovely pass from David Silva but the left-back miskicked.
Spain kept on fighting for the goal and their persistence was rewarded on the 87th minute after defender Gerard Pique was on hand to head home a delightful cross from Andres Iniesta which ended up being the only goal of the game but goalkeeper David De Gea prevented a late equalizer as the Manchester United goalkeeper did well to stop a great shot from Hubnik in stoppage time.
Four FC Barcelona players was in action for Spain, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Gerard Pique and they all did well. The win means Spain are joint top of their group with Croatia after their 1-0 win over Turkey yesterday as they look to win a third consecutive European Championship.
