Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has slammed Spain’s ‘sterile’ striker-less formation after their 1-1 draw with Italy at Euro 2012.
Vicente del Bosque chose to overlook Fernando Torres, Alvaro Negredo and Fernando Llorente in order to play 6 midfielders in a 4-3-3 formation.
And the Portuguese boss has hit out at del Bosque’s tactical approach, insisting it damaged Spain’s potency.
“It’s not good to keep on passing between Xavi, (Andres) Iniesta and (Cesc) Fabregas without creating a big threat on (Gianluigi) Buffon’s goal,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Yes, there was a big effort from Spanish midfielders but without a striker the team was sterile.”
The 49-year-old did confess to being impressed by the Italians, and is backing them to surprise a few people during the remainder of the tournament.
“Italy made a good start for their campaign. They played with big discipline in the defence,” Mourinho said.
“I think Italy can go too far in this tournament. Spain failed to stop (Andrea) Pirlo, and when the latter plays comfortable he makes a lot of problems.
“(Daniele) De Rossi is a joker of the team and one of the greatest Italian players.”
Related articles
- Del Bosque springs Fabregas surprise (timesofmalta.com)
- Euro 2012: Spain v Italy – live! | Jacob Steinberg (guardian.co.uk)
- Del Bosque defends selection (skysports.com)
- Euro 2012: Spain manager Del Bosque keeps Torres in dark over his place (guardian.co.uk)
- Euro 2012: ESPN misses the mark woefully (soccerblog.com)
- Spain, Italy live up to billing with hard-fought draw (cbc.ca)
- Spain v Italy preview (skysports.com)
- PST: Spain has room for improvement (prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com)
- Lessons learnt (skysports.com)
- Reina defends striker-less Spain formation (goal.com)