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Spain and Germany held on to claim boring victories in the Nations League on Saturday, when Luxembourg and Montenegro also won their games.
A blunder by Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer was enough for Spain to win 1-0 in an empty stadium in Madrid, while Germany defeated Ukraine 2-1 in front of more than 17,000 fans in Kiev for their first victory in the competition in the seventh tried. . Joachim Löw’s team had drawn three and lost three since the first tournament started in 2018.
FROM GEA RESCUES SPAIN
Switzerland only had one chance to score in a mediocre game, when goalkeeper David de Gea made a great save with one hand to stop Loris Benito’s powerful shot early on.
His counterpart Sommer was flustered by pressure from Spain and passed the ball past his teammate and straight to Mikel Merino, who set up his Real Sociedad teammate Mikel Oyarzabal to score the only goal in the 14th minute.
Spain leads Group 4 with 7 points, ahead of Germany with 5, Ukraine with 3 and Switzerland with 1.
Adama Traoré replaced teen sensation Ansu Fati in the second half and provided some good glimpses in his competitive debut, but otherwise Spain coach Luis Enrique will have been left wondering about his options as he tries to establish a new generation capable of competing. by titles. .
Spain will visit Ukraine on Tuesday.
GERMANY FINALLY WINS
Defender Matthias Ginter and midfielder Leon Goretzka scored to give Löw’s side their first group win, the first of the year, and after three games including the friendly against Turkey in which they wasted tracks to tie.
A late penalty from Ruslan Malinovskyi secured another nervous finish, but a team from Ukraine exhausted from coronavirus cases and injuries could not draw. Andriy Shevchenko’s team was thrashed by France 7-1 in Wednesday’s friendly.
After drawing Turkey 3-3 in Cologne on the same day, Löw got his regular players back in Kiev, building the squad around the Bayern Munich “block” of Manuel Neuer, Niklas Süle, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka and Serge Gnabry . Leipzig’s Lukas Klostermann and Marcel Halstenberg, and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos also returned to the starting lineup.
Löw later confirmed that he will try to stick with the same players for Tuesday’s game against Switzerland in Cologne, another city where coronavirus cases are on the rise.
Löw acknowledged his concern about playing in Kiev, where the infection rate has been increasing.
THE SMALLEST TEAMS ENJOY
Two first-half goals from Danel Sinani were enough for Luxembourg to defeat Cyprus 2-0, while Montenegro maintained its perfect record in Group I of League C by beating Azerbaijan 2-0.
Montenegro has 9 points from three games, followed by Luxembourg with 6, Azerbaijan with 3 and Cyprus with none.
Furthermore, an early goal from Tjay de Barr was enough for Gibraltar to defeat Liechtenstein 1-0. It was Gibraltar’s second competitive away win and the second in a row in Group 2 of League D, which they lead with 6 points. Liechtenstein has 3 points and San Marino 0.
In Group 1 of League D, Andorra drew with Malta 0-0 and the Faroe Islands drew with Latvia 1-1. The Faroe Islands lead the group with 7 points from three games.
Image credits: AP
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