Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente praised his team’s intelligence as they fought back to secure a 4-1 victory over Georgia in the Euro 2024 last 16, Soccernet.football reports.
La Roja faced an early setback in their clash in Cologne when an own goal gave Georgia a surprising lead on their knockout stage debut. However, they demonstrated both quality and composure to level matters before halftime.
This set the stage for a dominant second-half performance from De La Fuente’s charges, with three goals in 45 minutes securing their best display of the tournament so far and attracting the praise of their manager after full-time.
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“I think we controlled the game at all times with brilliant stages of play against an opponent that defended really well and was good on the counter attack.
“We need to properly value how important this victory is, because our opponent was a really good team,” De la Fuente told a press conference.
“We knew that Georgia’s danger came from the transition and counter attack, but they didn’t have any shots on goal,” he added.
“Of course, when they scored we were a bit nervous for a while, but we created so many chances that the result could have been 8-1 to us.”
Spain’s victory over Georgia sets up a mouth-watering quarter-finals clash against high-flying hosts Germany in Stuttgart on Friday.
“We have a lot of confidence and a team with talent, quality and commitment. Being convinced of your ability is very important. I don’t want to offend anyone but we have the best team at this tournament,” said De la Fuente.
“Germany is a fantastic team, they have some of the best players in the world and they are very organised, very disciplined. But they will face a team that is very similar to them, very committed, very well organised, difficult to overcome, hungry with lots of ambition.
“I know it’s the usual thing to say but in football it’s the small details that will decide the match and what happens in the end,” he added.
