An unhappy captain, a decimated team, an adopted Croatian as a hero… What you need to know about La Roja

The semi-final between the French team and Spain on Tuesday heralds a clash of styles between two teams with opposing games, but who both qualified in extremis for the last four.

Fire and ice. On Tuesday, July 9 in Munich, the flamboyant Roja, the most spectacular team in the competition, will face the Blues in the semi-finals of Euro 2024, who have distinguished themselves by their pragmatism and composure. While France has only scored three times, Spain is the best attack (11 goals) but also the one that has tried its luck the most (102 shots).

Held by Germany, La Roja secured their first victory against a host country after extra time (2-1), and certainly their greatest success since their last title in 2012. Spain now dreams of returning to the roof of Europe: here is what you need to know about their selection.

A fiery attack, but three notable absentees

Spain has become a modern team again. While La Roja remains faithful to the technical mastery that had its heyday at the turn of the 2010s, it has found in Lamine Yamal (16 years old) and Nico Williams (21 years old) the madness that it has lacked since, to unbalance opposing defenses. Now adapted to contemporary transitional football, practiced wonderfully by the French team, the Iberian team nevertheless advances with an amputated right flank to face Les Bleus.

Right central defender Robin Le Normand, like his full-back Dani Carvajal, are suspended for the semi-final after an accumulation of yellow cards in the competition. They should be replaced by the very experienced Nacho (34 years old) and Jesus Navas (38 years old), who could struggle against the speed of Kylian Mbappé, Theo Hernandez, or even Bradley Barcola, who animate the French left side. Above all, the revelation of the last Euro, Pedri (21 years old), was injured in the first minutes of the quarter-final. The Barcelona player will miss the end of the competition, while he was also an undisputed starter on the right of the Spanish midfield triangle.

Dani Olmo, the hero who was built in Croatia

But Spain has resources. It was Pedri’s replacement, who came on in the 8th minute, who left his mark on the victory against Germany by opening the scoring before offering the winning goal to Mikel Merino at the end of extra time (119th). Dani Olmo, like the Franco-Spanish central defenders Aymeric Laporte and Robin Le Normand, is the symbol of a modern selection that embraces globalised football.

Although Catalan by birth and educated at La Masia, the FC Barcelona training center, since he was 9 years old, the attacking midfielder left his country at just 16 to play for Dinamo Zagreb. It was there that he made his professional debut, won four Croatian championships and discovered the Champions League. Having played for all the Spanish youth teams, European Under-21 champion (in 2019) and Olympic vice-champion (in 2021), the man who has been playing for RB Leipzig (Germany) since 2020 remains close to the country where he spent six years: “I have a special affection for this country, Croatia is my second home”he confided in an interview with the Spanish daily The Country before the semi-final against France.

A captain “happier outside Spain”

Captain of La Roja since the arrival of coach Luis de la Fuente in March 2023, Alvaro Morata remains a controversial figure in his country. The Atlético de Madrid player, trained at rival Madrid, does not cope well with the criticism he has often received. In an interview with the daily The World After the match against Germany, he confirmed that he was “happier outside Spain” : “I’ve said it many times. Especially because people respect me. In Spain, we don’t respect anything or anyone.”

A lack of love such that the 32-year-old striker confides that he is “likely” that this Euro will be his last competition in the Spanish jersey. “There is always something happening somewhereexplains Alvaro Morata. The other day I made a gesture to journalists, simply by whistling, a gesture that I thought would remain between us… But some took advantage of it to criticize, as always.” Which does not prevent the fourth best scorer of the selection (36 goals) from dreaming of a European title: “They criticize me, even though I would cut off my hand to win the Euro.”