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Overthrown as Chelsea No. 1 by the signing of Edouard Mendy, his confidence shattered by a series of mistakes, Spain goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga received a lifeline from his national team coach on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old out-of-form started against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in Lisbon and, despite the hosts flirting with the crossbar twice, a clean first sheet since July 14 makes Kepa’s chances of a club do not remember anything.
Indeed, in a star-studded competition involving a total of 15 Premier League players, it was the goalkeepers who stole the show, with Kepa’s rival, Rui Patricio de los Wolves, making a series of good saves. in an entertaining goalless draw.
For Kepa, however, after a few months of nightmare between clubs, the faith that Luis Enrique showed in him will be extremely comforting.
Of course, he rode his luck. Although the Chelsea goalkeeper seemed safe under the high ball and cunningly dominated his penalty area, he was hit deeply twice only to be saved by his crossbar.
First up, it was Ronaldo with a penetrating left-foot shot that went off the bottom of the crossbar, before Renato Sanches hit Kepa and finished only for the woodwork to save the Spain goalkeeper again.
He did have his moments though, as he reacted quickly to put down an opportunity for Joao Felix later. On the other hand, the Atlético de Madrid striker should have scored a goal in the last minute, but somehow missed the ball from one yard, with the goal wide open.
Sometimes that’s all it takes to kickstart a much-needed boost: a stroke of good luck. Without a doubt, Kepa hopes that Wednesday marks a turning point. However, it remains to be seen whether he will start in the Nations League clash against Switzerland on Saturday, with David de Gea waiting behind the scenes.
Elsewhere, among the outfield stars on display at the José Alvalade stadium, four of Spain’s back-five play on English shores, with Man City’s Eric García, Leeds’s Diego Llorente and Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon, all contributing. to the goal to zero visitor.
Later on, Arsenal’s Dani Ceballos was safe in midfield, Leeds forward Rodrigo saw a good effort in the first half that cleverly stopped Patricio and Adama Traore, who has been playing on who to represent internationally with Mali interested , made an exciting debut for Spain in the final stages.
On the Portuguese side, there was no substitute appearance for Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes, but Liverpool’s £ 43m summer signing Diogo Jota appeared with 10 minutes to go.
Wolves’ Nelson Semedo and Ruben Dias, City’s record signing, were also substitutes in the second half.
But the most influential replacement was Bernardo Silva, with City’s playmaker deftly unleashing the Portuguese attacks in the second period. Their quality streak should have resulted in a victory for the hosts.
Among the starters, Wolves pair Rubén Neves and Joao Moutinho wore their usual solidity in the center of the park, while City’s Joao Cancelo, who scored a rocket for his country last month, was solid on the wing. law.
Furthermore, on a night of numerous international friendlies, with a total of 33 Premier League players involved, it was the forgotten man’s turn to shine in his 100th match.
For Olivier Giroud, this was a night to remember and perhaps one of the proudest of his career. He drew plenty of France appearances with two goals against a defeated Ukrainian side, in a 7-1 win at the Stade de France.
That brings his France tally to 41 goals. A goal ratio of 41 percent – not bad for Chelsea’s third-choice forward and a man so often underrated and underutilized by his club-level coaches.
Although Didier Deschamps still values him on the international stage, Giroud is now only behind Thierry Henry in France’s goal record.
In Amsterdam, there was disappointment by the trio of Dutch stars in action against Mexico.
Raúl Jiménez, who recently signed a new four-year deal to stay at Wolves, shot home a penalty in the 60th minute to give his country victory against Virgil van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and Donny van de Beek.
The three Dutch stars started at the Johan Cruyff Arena, possibly still reeling after heavy defeats by their clubs on Sunday.
There was more success for a Premier League player in Germany, however, as Kai Havertz, the £ 73 million Chelsea player, scored twice for his country in an action-packed 3-3 draw against Turkey.
Havertz scored goals for Julian Draxler and Florian Neuhaus in Cologne, though Arsenal’s number one Bernd Leno conceded a last-minute draw for the hosts.
Interestingly, despite being frozen at Stamford Bridge, Antonio Rudiger started out defending the Germans. Still highly rated by Joachim Low, it will be fascinating to see if the center-back can retain his spot in the national team squad after failing to secure a move away from the Blues this summer.
Elsewhere in Europe, Arsenal’s Swiss captain Granit Xhaka also secured an assist in the 2-1 loss to Croatia, in which Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic started as the winner, while Kasper Schmeichel, Jannik Vestergaard and Andreas Christensen They participated in a 4-0 Danish victory against the Faroe Islands.
Yet perhaps the best moment for a Premier League player on Wednesday night came from a completely unknown number.
Winger Kamil Grosicki has only scored once for West Brom since joining them in January, but he scored a superb 19-minute hat-trick for Poland against Finland in Gdansk.
As captain of his country without the presence of Robert Lewandowski, Grosicki has already scored four goals in the 2020-21 campaign, all at international level. But he has yet to play in the Premier League this season.
Currently winless and languishing dangerously close to the relegation zone, Slaven Bilic should perhaps take note.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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