‘Italy taught Spain a lesson’

Spain CT Luis de la Fuente conceded Italy taught his country a ‘lesson’ and that Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz ‘got hurt’.

Spain went 1-0 up through a Dani Ceballos strike from distance but ended up losing their European Under-21 Championship opener 3-1.

“My confidence in the squad hasn’t changed,” De la Fuente said after the game.

“I have a very strong team and we’ll look ahead with positive results. Obviously the team aren’t happy right now, but we must react.

Spain CT Luis de la Fuente conceded Italy taught his country a ‘lesson’ and that Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz ‘got hurt’.

Spain went 1-0 up through a Dani Ceballos strike from distance but ended up losing their European Under-21 Championship opener 3-1.

“My confidence in the squad hasn’t changed,” De la Fuente said after the game.

“I have a very strong team and we’ll look ahead with positive results. Obviously the team aren’t happy right now, but we must react.

“We’ll see what happens in our next few games, but I think this is a lesson to learn from.”

It is also worth noting that La Rojita’s collapse seemed to coincide with Fabian going off at half-time due to a muscle problem…

“He got hurt in the first half and we kept him on the field, but then we decided to make a change.”