Xabi Alonso fears Spain’s hopes of retaining their Euro 2012 crown may be weighed down by the burden of expectation.
Vicente Del Bosque’s side completed their preparation for the tournament with a 1-0 victory over China in Seville on Sunday night. La Roja were far from fluid in the first half as Del Bosque began with Alvaro Negredo as his No9 with David Silva and Santi Cazorla in support.
It wasn’t until the introduction of Andres Iniesta at half time that they began to play like World and European Champions with the Barcelona man’s incisive run and pass to David Silva producing a winner.
While Spain travelled to Austria and Switzerland four years ago as fancied but still bearing the tag of perennial tournament chokers, along with Germany they are the favourites in Poland and Ukraine.
Alonso’s comments, on the back of Spain’s far from convincing show in Seville, implies the holders are struggling to deal with this status. “The expectations aren’t just high, but they are soaring. The bar is almost insurmountable,” Real Madrid midfielder Alonso said.
“The expectation can weigh you down a bit, but let’s just hope this won’t happen. Winning the title is going to be much more difficult this time than previously.”
Del Bosque conceded after the game Spain were far from at their best with the Chinese wasting two excellent opportunities in the first half. The 61-year-old admitted the change in personnel, with few coaches able to call upon players of the calibre of Iniesta, Juan Mata and Jesus Navas off the bench, and an increased attacking attitude saw them pull through.
“We were a little lazy in the first half and they were also more of a unit and withdrawn in terms of their positioning. In the second half we put more people forward and had more stability and speed in our play and created more chances. We dominated the game in the second period and played almost the entire time in their half.”
Silva was one of just five to play the full 90 minutes and could well have sealed his place in the starting line-up for the reigning champions’ opening game against Italy on Saturday with a fine performance full of invention.
However the Manchester City midfielder was keen to highlight the contribution of Iniesta. He said: “Iniesta is an incredible player, he handed me the goal and the truth is when you play with him, everything is easier.
“We are desperate to make history by becoming the first side to win three major championships back to back but we know that it will be very difficult because every team has the capability to make it hard for us.”
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