Luis Diaz inspired Colombia to a 1-0 victory as toothless Spain were made to toil at the London Stadium on Friday evening.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Colombia beat Spain 1-0Diaz stole the show with a brilliant outingSpain lacked creativity in midfield and attackGetty ImagesTELL ME MORE
The Liverpool striker put in a shift to remember against La Roja as Colombia stunned Spain in the English capital. Luis de la Fuente left most of the big guns on the bench including Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal, Real Madrid skipper Dani Carvajal, first-choice keeper Unai Simon and Manchester City's Rodri.. However, they had little trouble dominating the game as they enjoyed more possession and looked more ominous than their South American counterparts. However, the front four of Mikel Oyazabal, Gerard Moreno, Pablo Sarabia and Joselu struggled to conjure anything significant in the opening 45 minutes.
Colombia manager Nestor Lorenzo decided to freshen things up at half-time and introduced James Rodriguez. And his throw of the dice changed the complexion of the game. Colombia started to gain more control and looked more threatening in attack and eventually, Daniel Munoz broke the deadlock with a superb volley after some superb work down the left from Diaz.
De la Fuente responded by throwing in Alvaro Morata, Nico Williams, and Yamal but the replacements could do nothing to turn the game around as Spain kept the ball, but could not work an opening.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesTHE MVP
Diaz was undoubtedly the best player on the pitch. His explosive pace coupled with his guile and trickery beat Pedro Porro time and again. Diaz twisted and turned to bamboozle the two centre-backs before floating in a cross for Munoz, who pulled off a stunning volley.
THE BIG LOSER
De la Fuente has got significant work to do with Spain's attack. Unsurprisingly, they enjoyed more of the ball but simply couldn't turn it into anything approaching a chance, and were incapable of finding a way through. Even after he made wholesale changes in the forward line, while searching for the equaliser, things hardly improved for La Roja which should be even more concerning, especially with Euro 2024 around the corner, and a group stage that will throw up fixtures against both Italy and Croatia.
Getty ImagesWHAT COMES NEXT?
Spain will hope to return to winning ways when they host Brazil next in their second friendly on Tuesday evening at the Santiago Bernabeu. Whereas, Colombia will also head to the Spanish capital as they will face Romania at the Wanda Metropolitano on the same day.