Euro 2024: Spain Next for Fearless Albania

Albania vs Spain

Albania’s battling Euro 2024 campaign continues at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf on Monday when the arch underdogs take on the Group B leaders.

Albania vs Spain pitches together two teams at the opposite end of the world football food chain, but both have won fans with their performances so far.

Luis de la Fuente’s Spain have been imperious, sweeping aside Croatia and Italy without conceding a goal. Meanwhile, Albania gave the Azzurri an almighty scare before losing narrowly, and then they drew with 2018 World Cup finalists Croatia.

The Euro 2024 betting odds don’t give Slivinho’s men much hope, but that won’t worry Albania, who will fight to the death.

Talking Points

Can Albania pull off the biggest shock yet?

Spain have been the best side at Euro 2024 so far, and for Albania to pick up the three points they need on Monday would be a bigger surprise than Slovakia’s amazing win over Belgium.

But they have won plaudits by the way they have taken the game to more illustrious opponents, and Albania have scored early goals in both their matches so far after 23 seconds against Italy. The reigning champions were reeling when Nedim Bajrami took advantage of a sloppy throw-in to score the fastest goal in the competition history, but they came back to win 2-1.

Against Croatia, the Albanians got their noses in front again thanks to a Qazim Laci goal and, while the Croats scored twice to get ahead, the second through a Klaus Gjasula own goal, Albania were not done. And it was Darmstadt midfielder Gjasula who made amends, scoring a dramatic 95^th minute leveller.

If Albania go ahead against Spain, they need to find a way of holding on to their lead, and Silvinho has made a rallying call to his men, saying: “We have to fight for every single point. It’s important for our lives, for the life of the country, the federation. I’m proud of the players.”

There was an off-field matter in the aftermath of the draw with Croatia which has distracted the media somewhat.

According to the Euro 2024 news, Albania star Mirlind Daku was caught leading anti-Macedonia and anti-Serb chants on a megaphone. It was a daft thing for the striker to do, and Silvinho will hope the Rubin Kazan man uses his boundless energy on the pitch on Monday.

Super Spain are serious contenders

La Roja’s clash against Italy was billed by this SBOTOP writer, among others, as a battle for Group B dominance and the answer couldn’t be clearer.

Spain are the bosses with six points and qualification in the bag, and now Italy need to get a result against Croatia to smooth their way through to the knockouts.

The result was only 1-0, but Spain dominated from start to finish and could easily have scored four or five, while the Azzurri hardly got out of their own half.

With two flying wingers, Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams on the left flank and 16-year-old Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal on the right, Spain can rip any team apart on this form. And with strikers Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal on top form, these are exciting times for La Roja fans.

Look further back in the Spain team and you see the excellent Pedri in midfield and Rodri, arguably the best defencive midfielder on the planet, while Robin Le Normand and Aymeric Laporte are a strong and talented centre-back partnership.

This is a top quality team, and de la Fuente will have his eyes firmly on the next phase of the tournament. But for Albania, it’s all still to play for.

History

This is Albania’s second showing at the Euros following their appearance at the 2016 finals in France.

Spain are European royalty with tournament wins in 1964, 2008, and 2012, and La Roja were also World Champions in 2010. So, we have a David vs Goliath situation in Dusseldorf on Monday.

There isn’t much comfort for the underdogs if they look at the head-to-heads either, as they have lost all six of their meetings with La Roja, the most recent a friendly in 2022, which finished 2-1 to Spain.

Recent form favours the favourites too with four consecutive victories, while Albania have won two, drawn one, and lost one of the last four games.

Betting Tip

With Spain at 1.39 to win, this is a very tall order for Albania, who are at 6.95 to get the win they need and 4.35 to earn a really impressive draw against my team of the tournament so far.

While Spain can afford to rest one or two players, Luis de la Fuente cannot make wholesale changes, so I expect La Roja will have too much for Albania.

But Silvinho’s men will give it a real go, and I believe there will be plenty of goals in an entertaining bout.

 

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