Positives and negatives from Spain's Euro 2020 campaign

Bengaluru, July 8: Things have not quite worked for the Spanish national team over the last few years as their trajectory has seen a downward spiral since 2012.

For the period between 2008 and 2012, La Roja completely dominated European and World football as they won two European Championships and one World Cup in that time. But since then, the Spaniards have struggled in major tournaments and expectations were not too high from them as they headed to the Euro 2020.

However, Luis Enrique's youthful Spanish side should look back at their Euro campaign with nothing but pride as they lost to Italy in the semis on penalties. Here, we will take a look at positives and negatives for Spain from their Euro 2020 campaign.

Positives

Spain's struggles since 2012 was no coincidence as most of their stellar names from their 'Golden Generation' ran out of their peaks. Spain have sorely missed players like Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso, David Silva and others in recent years but finally, their future looks to be in safe hands considering the wealth of talent Spain have at their disposal right now.

The likes of Pedri, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia, Dani Olmo, Mikel Oyarzabal have all had their moments during the Euros and could very well inspire Spain to yet another golden era in years to come.

Pedri, in particular, deserves to have a special mention and looks like a special footballer in the making. Spain boss Luis Enrique has gone speechless describing the 18-year-old Barcelona midfielder and that speaks volumes about the incredible potential of the former Las Palmas starlet. When an 18-year-old benches world-class midfielders like Thiago Alcantara, Fabian Ruiz and Rodri for the whole of the tournament, it is difficult to overlook his enormous potential.

Luis Enrique's management has been another positive for Spain as the former treble winning manager seems to have completely changed the dynamics and mentality of the Spain team as they look well past their struggles now.

Negatives

Spain have never quite managed to find a reliable number nine since Fernando Torres and David Villa. Torres and Villa both scored absolutely crucial goals for Spain during their years of dominance but it has never been the same without them in the last few years. Controlling the midfield and creating chances have never been a problem for Spain as their midfield has always seen plenty of talent but what Spain have missed for all these years is a lethal goalscorer.

Spain have found it difficult to make their dominance count in four out of their six games in the tournament and much of that can be attributed to the eccentric nature of their forwards. Alvaro Morata might have three goals to his name in the Euros but must work on his inconsistency. The likes of Gerard Moreno, Mikel Oyarzabal and others could have done a lot better as well. If Spain can find a solution to their goalscoring issues, they have what it takes to have a strong World Cup campaign in 2022.