Joselu’s irruption in the Spanish team is tremendous. A few hours after blowing out 33 candles, the Espanyol forward stamped his mark on the red with an overwhelming debut that allowed another rookie, the coach Luis de la Fuente, to start his adventure on the Spanish bench on the right foot with his first victory on the way to the 2024 Euro Cup. The one from Stuttgart condemned Norway and earned the cheers of La Rosaleda, exaggeratedly delivered to the first pichichi of this new era.
He appeared on time in the green to seal the work that Olmo had begun and sentence the Nordics in just one minute with two goals in practically the first two balls he played as an international. He had been on the field for three minutes. Pure magic.
The red had started with a spark at La Rosaleda, wanting to please and convince the new coach. The illusion of the debut against a Norway without his best star and with few offensive arguments that seemed like a candy that just had to be unwrapped. He had surprised De la Fuente when he had to uncover the cards of his first hand and in them Ceballos did not appear in the eleven, a team that otherwise did not catch anyone with the wrong foot, with the claimed Nacho restoring the confidence of his faithful with a more than convincing performance as Laporte’s squire.
The La Rioja coach always defends that he does not want to be “hostage” to any tactical scheme and he applied it in Malaga where Mikel Merino was the free verse of the team, acting with total freedom, practically as second striker on the left.
It didn’t take too long for the marker to gobble up the first plate, scoring the first goal of the spirited night in Malaga before the quarter of an hour. The play originated with an unlikely recovery by Merino, which ended with an almost low center shot from Balde and the shot on goal by Dani Olmo, one of the most reliable footballers in the national team and who also has a goal.
The euphoria with which the Spanish goal was celebrated was such that Norway was on the verge of drawing a draw practically after taking off from the center. The Vikings had not left their field until Odegaard caught a ball in the area and only Nacho stood in his way to the tie. Although the morrocotudo scare really came after half an hour. The Norwegians hardly arrived but it was enough for them very little to alter cardiograms in La Rosaleda. Kepa excelled before the shot from Aursnes with an action as spectacular and decisive as any goal. Spain had slowed down for some time now and seemed to let the clock go by without much ambition, beyond the non-negotiable intensity with which Gavi lives football.
Changes followed after the break, trying De la Fuente to shake his team, who seemed to settle for a goal against an opponent who did not appear to be any ogre. And it didn’t take long for Kepa to re-emerge with a double action against Pedersen to avoid a draw. Time continued to advance at the same time as boredom in Malaga, the stands were silent, crying out for the footballers to invite them to shout.
Already in the final stretch of the duel there were a couple of minutes that drew the final argument. Sorloth, completely alone, did not hit the mark with a very frank volley, one of those actions for which De la Fuente gave thanks in the previous one for Haaland’s loss. The next minute, Joselu made his entrance on the grass and lit the fuse. Everything was going to explode in the air. The Espanyol striker scored the second of the night with a header after a good cross from Fabián. And with the adrenaline still running through his body, he repeated a few seconds later, this time after taking advantage of a loose ball in front of the little girl, going crazy in celebration. It was not be for lowerly.
The Spanish night was happy in Malaga.
3 – Spain: Kepa; Carvajal, Laporte, Nacho, Bucket; Rodri, Mikel Merino (Fabian, m.81); Iago Aspas (Birches, m.58), Gavi (Oyarzabal, m.58), Dani Elmo (Yeremy Pine, m.67); and Morata (Joseph, m.81).
0 – Norway: Newland; Pedersen (Ryerson, m.74), Strandberg, Ostigård, Meling (Bjorkan, m.74); Odegaard, Berg, Aursnes; Berge (Solbakken, m.74), Elyounoussi (Larsen, m.74) and Sorloth (Brynhildsen, m.87).
Goals: 1-0, m.13: Dani Olmo. 2-0, m.84: Joselu. 3-0, m. 85: Joselu.
Referee: Benoit Bastien (France). He booked Odegaard (41) and Sorloth (51) for Norway.
Incidents: match corresponding to the first day of the Euro 2024 qualifying phase, played at La Rosaleda completely full with 29,214 spectators in its stands.
