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June 24 – Once again they came in their thousands, this time perhaps more in hope than expectation, turning the Dusseldorf Arena into a deafening cauldron of noise.
If this was to be Albania’s final appearance at Euro 2024, their massed ranks of fans – occupying all but a corner section of the 47,000-capacity stadium – were determined to give their side a rousing sendoff.
Albania were, of course, rank outsiders as they on took the might of already-qualified Spain.
With one point from their opening two group games, they needed to pull off the mother of all upsets to stand a realistic chance of staying in the competition. A task made even harder by the two-game ban meted out to striker Mirlind Daku for using a megaphone to join supporters in nationalist chants after the draw with Croatia.
Don’t forget Spain had won all previous eight encounters between the sides, scoring 31 goals in the process, as well as reaching the last 16 in Germany with a game to spare. No contest, then…
Or was there a glimmer of hope for the outsiders for whom simply getting here in the first place constituted a huge achievement?
Ferran Torres put Spain ahead
That glimmer was because of the Spanish starting eleven. No-one was the least surprised when changes made. But was 10 potentially risky?
Coach Luis de la Fuente obviously didn’t want to risk any injuries or suspensions but the team he put out contained only Atymeric Laporte from the win over defending champions Italy, though Rodri was suspended.
Even a reserve Spanish team should of course be enough, man for man, to dispatch a country ranked 66 in the world. Their quality runs deep.
But in the stands it was an entirely different story where the red and yellows tried to find their voices were drowned out by the red and blacks.
It seemed like the whole of the football-mad Balkan nation had travelled to watch their plucky team. They roared their heroes out on to the pitch, wolf-whistled anything and everything…
Source link : https://www.insideworldfootball.com/2024/06/24/albanias-dusseldorf-day-sees-spanish-victory-proud-nation-steal-show/
Author : Paul Nicholson
Publish date : 2024-06-24 21:38:06
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