Spain obtained a heat welcome in its return to Catalonia and responded by beating Albania 2-1 in its first match in Barcelona in 18 years on Saturday.
Dani Olmo scored a Ninetieth-minute winner to provide La Roja the victory in entrance of greater than 35,000 packing Espanyol’s RCDE Stadium.
The primary of Spain’s two friendlies within the worldwide break prompted coach Luis Enrique to experiment along with his squad forward of the World Cup in Qatar this yr. Spain subsequent hosts Iceland in A Coruña on Tuesday.
An enormous banner with “Barcelona” written on Spain’s purple and yellow flag was unveiled on the grandstands earlier than the pleasant on Saturday, and the gang a number of instances chanted “Viva España.”
Spain’s final sport in Barcelona in 2004 was a win in opposition to Peru in a pleasant at Montjuic Olympic Stadium. Any likelihood of taking part in there sooner than Saturday was delayed in 2017 when Catalan secessionists failed to tug off a breakaway try from Spain, igniting a deep political disaster within the Iberian nation. Spain’s document within the Catalan metropolis is 10 wins, 5 attracts and three losses.
Torres, who performs for Barcelona, opened the scoring from inside the realm within the seventy fifth.
Albania equalized when a clearing try by Spain defender Pau Torres ricocheted off Myrto Uzuni’s head and trickled throughout the road previous goalkeeper David Raya, who was making his nationwide debut.
Olmo’s winner got here with a wonderful curling strike into the highest nook after an help by Jordi Alba.
The buildup began with Pedri González, who was again on the nationwide workforce for the primary time for the reason that semifinals of the European Championship final yr, when Spain misplaced to eventual champion Italy.
It was Spain’s eighth win in as many matches in opposition to Albania.
Spain was with out striker Raúl de Tomás due to a shoulder harm in coaching.
