Madrid (Spain) June 5: Spain and Portugal drew 0-0 in their first warm-up game ahead of Euro 2020, in which Spain coach Luis Enrique gave some clues over his starting 11, but where his side showed their continued problems in front of goal.
Luis Enrique handed a debut to French-born central defender AymericLaporte, who partnered Pau Torres in a four-man defense which included Marcos Llorente at right-back in front of Unai Simon, who was given the nod in goal ahead of David de Gea and Robert Sanchez.
The coach opted for three men in midfield, with Sergio Busquets accompanied by Thiago Alcantara and Fabian Ruiz, while Alvaro Morata led the attack with Ferran Torres and Pablo Sarabia in the wide roles.
Bruno Fernandes was on the bench for Portugal, who nevertheless fielded an attack consisting of Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota and Joao Felix.
The game began at a slow pace, but Spain began to take control in midfield albeit without creating any chances against well-drilled opponents.
The Portuguese had the ball in the net in the 23rd minute, but Jose Fonte's header was ruled out after he climbed on Pau Torres.
Spain's first chance came when Ferran Torres headed Morata's cross just wide, while at the other end Unai had a nervous moment when his clearance rebounded off Ronaldo, although he was able to recover in time, and the half ended with Spain in control but unable to create anything in Portugal's penalty area.
Morata had three chances at the start of the second half, but his first effort was straight at RuiPatricio in the Portugal goal, before he saw one shot blocked by a defender and another scuffed wide after good work by Llorente.
More good work from Llorente saw Sarabia miss a good chance with the keeper out of position, while at the other end good defending from Pau Torres saw him block Jota's header after a Ronaldo cross.
The game opened up as both sides made changes as the second half progressed, with Morata failing to make contact with Gaya's ball across the area and Ronaldo's control letting him down when he was though on the Spanish goal.
RuiPatricio did well to get down to save Koke's free kick with two minutes left to play, and Gerard Moreno hit the bar for Spain in the last minute as the game ended 0-0.
Source: Xinhua