The miracles of Unai Simón sustain the Red

PreviousLive Chronicle

Carved into the rock of an old quarry and considered one of the most beautiful in the world for its architecture and its integration with the surroundings, the Braga pitch is more of a place than a stadium in itself.

Surrounded by pine and eucalyptus trees nailed to the steep hills that surround the coliseum, the absence of funds designed by the prestigious architect Eduardo Souto de Moura finishes off his original and groundbreaking work.

There is no passion in the hot zone that is the stands behind the goals.

BYPortugal

0

Diogo Costa, Cancelo, Danilo Pereira, Nuno Mendes, Rúben Dias, William Carvalho (Rafael Leao, min. 77), Diogo Jota (Vitor Ferreira, min. 78), Ruben Neves (João Félix, min. 88), Bernardo Silva ( João Mário, minute 72), Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano

ESP Spain

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Unai Simón, Pau Torres, Hugo Guillamón (Busquets, min. 45), Dani Carvajal, Gayá, Rodrigo, Koke (Gavi, min. 59), Carlos Soler (Pedri, min. 59), Morata, Ferrán Torres (Nico Williams, min. 72) and Sarabia (Yeremy Pino, min. 60)

Goals

0-1 min.

87: Morata.

Yellow cards Hugo Guillamón (min. 30), Bernardo Silva (min. 45), Dani Carvajal (min. 54), Nuno Mendes (min. 82) and João Félix (min. 95)

There, without the pressure and noise that goalkeepers usually endure, Unai Simón emerged as the best Spanish player.

Decisive for a victory more historic than beautiful.

Three of his stops prevented Portugal from breaking the horizontal monotony with which Spain handled itself and which caused the irritation of the Portuguese fans for more than an hour.

The Portuguese fans could not stand the barrage of passes to the foot without any verticality that the Spanish internationals executed.

At each transition of their selection they flared up.

They were few, but they put Unai Simón to the test.

The Athletic goalkeeper was precise in his positioning, strong on his legs and eager for reflexes when Diogo Jota, twice, and Cristiano Ronaldo challenged him.

In the first, a long shot from the Liverpool winger forced him to a good stretch.

In the second, the flight was spectacular.

Diogo Jota's right hand after coming out of a cut to Carvajal was on its way to the top corner.

The stop ended with the hubbub of the stands, which sang the goal before time.

In the band, Luis Enrique bowed his head and sighed.

His gestures betrayed a coach upset by the performance that his players were displaying.

Spain did the complete opposite of what it needed to overcome Portugal.

The excess of touches and the lack of depth exasperated the Asturian coach, who headed into the locker room tunnel at full speed when the Italian Orsato marked the end of the first act.

For the second consecutive game, Spain went into the break without registering a shot between the three sticks.

The beginning of the second act was also starred by Unai Simón.

He was quoted with Cristiano Ronaldo in a one-on-one at the right peak of the small area.

The bilge was manual to cover the Portuguese attacker's attempt to cross his shot.

The save allowed Spain to survive until the final stretch of the match.

Unai Simón left Braga as the only solid reference in a match described by Luis Enrique himself as a “final”.

Bad news that in a game in which Spain needed victory, the goalkeeper was their best player on the pitch.

Chosen by Luis Enrique to dethrone De Gea for being the calmest, not the most technically gifted, to play with his feet, Unai Simón has taken over the position.

He passed the European Championship test with high marks and will go to the World Cup as the number one goalkeeper ahead of Robert Sánchez and David Raya.

He has also established himself as one of the benchmarks in a dressing room that still lacks flight in top competition.

The Spanish goalkeeper lived calmer after his saving intervention against Cristiano Ronaldo.

He was no longer seriously concerned because the Portuguese attacker was noted for the lack of speed that accompanies the start of his career decline.

Unai Simón lived the last third of the match contemplating from the front of the box the final improvement of Spain with the changes introduced by Luis Enrique.

When he saw his teammate Nico Williams enter, he gave him a couple of cheers.

At least he was able to entertain the rookie winger's attempts and have some hope of winning the match.

Unai Simón did his job and kept a clean sheet and allowed Spain to reach the end of the match alive and finish it off with a goal from Morata headed by the little Williams.

The Atlético striker now has 27 goals and equals Fernando Morientes.

And Unai Simón still had time to take a corner shot from Cristiano Ronaldo and anticipate him again to avoid a draw.

It was the anchor so that Spain could sign its pass to the final four of the League of Nations.

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