Football is endless astonishment.
Because it is amazing that Gayà, a winger who has scored five goals in 223 games with Valencia, made a hole in the middle of an Amazonian defense of German giants to rescue a draw for Spain.
And so much that a rescue: there were seconds to go.
This is how La Roja closed its return after 290 days in
confinement
.
Luis Enrique back, the selection scratched an agonizing point.
First on the shoulders of De Gea and then with an unshakable faith not to raise the white flag despite the experimental nature of a group in which Ferran, Fati, Óscar and Merino debuted.
Like all sectors, soccer tries to dribble the pandemic as best it can.
UEFA is no stranger to it.
Despite the paticojo calendar to which circumstances force, she has threaded her latest invention with forceps: a League of Nations that supplants those friendly mess that interfered with the club championships.
It happens that the tournament lacks roots.
And more so in these times, with empty nests and bubble-to-bubble players.
Germany and Spain were not immune to the general inertia.
They sealed a spasmodic match.
GER
one
-
one
ESP
Germany Trapp, Rüdiger, Niklas Süle, Emre Can, Kroos, Thilo Kehrer, Robin Gosens, Gündogan (Suat Serdar, min. 73), Sane (Ginter, min. 62), Timo Werner (Robin Koch, min. 90) and Draxler Spain De Gea , Sergio Ramos, Carvajal, Pau Francisco Torres, Gayá, Fabián (Óscar Rodríguez, min. 79), Busquets (Merino, min. 56), Thiago, Ferrán Torres, Rodrigo and Jesús Navas (Ansu Fati, min. 45)
Goals1-0 min.
50: Timo Werner.
1-1 min.
94: Gayá.
Löw gave flight to three central handles, three frills and two points.
Luis Enrique, who had not led Spain since March 23, 2019, ordered a 4-3-3, with Rodrigo as the central point, the graduate Ferran Torres on the left and the eternal Navas on the right, rewinding his extreme times .
La Roja did not tune in, without attack tonnage, without fans on the sides, without a line on the trunk road.
Erratic Busquets, flanked the band players and Rodrigo with blank boots, the Spanish team was at the expense of De Gea.
Disturbed by his last skids with United and with La Roja, this time the Madrid goalkeeper was the Spanish support, decisive already in the first act with three very demanding interventions against Kehrer, Draxler and Sané.
They were not the only ones.
Germany was not Bayern.
But a more categorical team than Luis Enrique's.
De Gea's cut had nothing to do with Trapp's, which Rodrigo, who is not a slaughterer in the area, did not beat even with the goal wide open.
An oversight by Can made Trapp go out for a snack.
Rodrigo thought more than necessary and gave rise to the German rectification.
Without being dazzling, Werner and Sané struck into space and threatened Ramos and company.
Spain gravitated over Thiago, who with the extraordinary rennet he has caught at Bayern today is much more than a soloist with art.
But no one plugged in next to it.
It took the Red a world to certify its theoretical superiority on the shores, where Germany only guarded itself with Kehrer and Gosens.
Carvajal and Navas did not turn.
Just Gayà and Ferran.
Luis Enrique perceived the little bone of Spain and, at halftime, he noticed Fati, turned into the 800th footballer who wears the centennial Roja and the youngest debutant since 1936 (Zubieta, from Athletic, who also made a career in Argentina) .
The Asturian coach goes to extremes.
There is not much fishing ground, so cadet Fati (17 years old) has to be tied up the same as the Navas brigade (34).
Nothing altered Löw at intermission and it didn't take long for his team to catch the goal.
Gundogan hinted at Gosens, who braided with Werner.
The new Chelsea striker maneuvered on the balcony of the area to send Ramos and Pau to hell and nail the goal with a dry shot.
Luis Enrique put two other international premiere footballers into orbit, Merino and Óscar, but found no other agitator than Ansu Fati.
In this test Spain that Luis Enrique scans again, green berets are missing in attack.
There are promising players in other sectors, but the Red lacks jackals, the real ones and those called fake ones.
Rodrigo, the most solid at the moment, was never a goal scorer.
Spain was on the verge of running dry for the first time in four years and after 40 games (since 2-0 against Italy in Euro 2016), when Germany, confident of its rear, was enchanted.
So much so that no matter how much pole defense Löw exposed, the little bird Fati almost tied the head.
The referee called a debatable Ramos foul on Ginter.
Spain did not give up and with about 45 seconds remaining, Gayà, an outsider of the goal, sang bingo.
A relief for Luis Enrique, who even with the draw has homework.
And not easy in these times of so much anxiety.
Ansu Fati, second youngest debut
Ansu Fati became the second youngest debutant in the history of the Spanish team, with 17 years and 308 days, only behind in terms of precocity as an international of Ángel Zubieta, who in 1936 debuted at 17 years and 284 days.
From a year earlier, 1935, dates the last Spanish victory in Germany.
Fati, the 800th rookie for Spain, may still become the youngest scorer.
The record belongs to Juan Errazquin, who marked in 1925 with 18 years and 344 days.
On the other hand, Ukraine beat Switzerland 2-1 in Spain's other group match, League A group 4. Only the former qualifies for the semi-finals.
