Enrique: Not a sad night, Morata was excellent
Enrique Not a sad night Morata was excellent
07-07-2021 02:27 PM
Ammon News - Italy won 4-2 on penalties in the Euro 2020 semi-final; Federico Chiesa's opening goal was cancelled out by Alvaro Morata, who had started the game on the bench; Italy will face either England or Denmark in Sunday's final at Wembley; Roberto Mancini in cautious mood ater win.
Luis Enrique said he was not sad and had no complaints with his squad after Spain's Euro 2020 exit to Italy, praising the contribution of substitute Alvaro Morata.
Morata has come in for plenty of attention during the tournament - not always good - but the striker came on to score a late equaliser at Wembley on Tuesday, sending the semi-final into extra-time.
He did miss his penalty during the decisive shootout - which was won 4-2 by Italy - but Enrique continued his support for Morata after the game.
The Spain head coach said: "He has an abductor issue. It says a lot about his personality that, despite that, he wanted to take a penalty.
"He has gone through some tough times during this competition but he was brilliant, he created a lot of uncertainty in the Italian ranks, he scored, he was excellent. I haven't been able to see him because he went to doping control but I will go and see him now."
The Wembley defeat marks the first time Spain have failed to progress from a semi-final at a major tournament in their history, having reached the final from each of their previous five semi-final appearances.
But Enrique had nothing but pride in his players, saying: "It's not a sad night for me, not at all. Of course there is disappointment, but that's football. You have to be able to win and lose. We were very pleased to win the shootout in the quarter-finals but we have to congratulate our opponents.
"I said at the start we were one of eight teams that could win the title, I wasn't wrong about that. We go home knowing we competed and were one of the best teams at the competition.
"I'd say it would be an A- for my players, an A+ if we'd won. We've been speaking about how we'd like to play at the Euros for many months, and the players bought into it, so I have no complaints. We've shown we're a team and we're going to continue doing that."
*SKY