Martín Zubimendi sees off Denmark to breathe life into Spain’s victory parade
It was little late and a little lucky too, but the European champions did eventually get the goal that completed their homecoming. Kasper Schmeichel had resisted for 79 minutes but then almost out of nowhere, Martín Zubimendi, the man Liverpool couldn’t convince and whose coach calls the second best midfielder in the world after the man he came to replace, hit a volley that squirmed through the hands of the Denmark keeper and into the net. Just when it seemed that they wouldn’t get a goal to go with the Henri Delaunay trophy, 29,870 people erupted in Murcia, the party ending rather well after all.
Twenty-four shots it had taken, a deflection too, but Spain had defeated Denmark to go top of the group and mark the occasion with a victory that had looked like it might evade them. Schmeichel had made five saves until then, two of them one-on-ones with Álvaro Morata, but ultimately carried some of the responsibility for defeat on a night when Denmark had their moments. And yet while there was a period here when it felt like the game might drift into a draw with which they would have probably been satisfied, the selección did get the win they deserved.
