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Match Preview: Spain face Euro opener confident and ‘with a clear plan’ despite COVID

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Spain coach Luis Enrique remains confident about his plan for Euro despite last COVID-19 events which has shaken the national team ahead Euro 2020 campaign against Sweden on Monday.

With Sergio Ramos left out of the squad due to fitness problems and captain Sergio Busquets ruled out of the opening game due to testing positive for COVID-19, Spain will have no obvious figure to galvanise them against Sweden.

“There is no complaint, no excuse. I have a very good squad and I am looking forward to playing tomorrow’s debut,” Luis Enrique told a news conference on Sunday from Seville’s La Cartuja Stadium.

The coach also played down the upheaval his side had faced due to Busquets’ and Diego Llorente’s positive tests, which forced the team to halt group training for a week.

“It is a pleasure to be in La Cartuja, and it is also a nice day for the players. We do a training session in which they recover sensations of training together, which throughout this week we have not been able to do,” Luis Enrique added.

Stand-in captain Jordi Alba and Busquets are the only surviving members from Spain‘s golden generation that won Euro 2008, the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

“We have been looking forward to this day for a long time and finally, after everything that has happened, we are really looking forward to it,” said Jordi Alba.

Sweden captain Sebastian Larsson on Sunday sent his team’s best wishes to Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen following his collapse during the match against Finland in their Euro 2020 opener in Copenhagen on Saturday.

Sweden had just arrived in Seville for their first group game against Spain when they heard about Eriksen’s collapse and his transfer to hospital following CPR on the pitch, and the 36-year-old Larsson struggled with his emotions as he began the news conference.

“I’d just like to say some words about the awful event that happened yesterday. We were very quickly reached by the terrible news when we landed. It was an awfully uncomfortable feeling,” he told reporters.

“When something like that happens, there are no rivals or different nationalities, just colleagues and fellow human beings. All our thoughts and our love and our strength to Christian, his family and the whole Danish squad,” he added.

The Swedes took pictures at their training session with a banner bearing the words “Fight, Christian” in Swedish, as a gesture of support.

There was little talk of Monday’s Group E clash with Spain as coach Janne Andersson and Larsson addressed the media, and it was replaced by reflection on how the physical health of footballers is managed.

“We are checked regularly. You must have x number of (heart) tests ready before the championships and the regular club team season. I feel confident that I have done the necessary tests,” Larsson said.

 

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