Evening all. Despite the season only recently starting, domestic football takes a sidestep as the international break comes to the fore. The Euro 2020 qualifiers resume tonight, and here we’re concerned with all things Romania v Spain. Kick-off at 7.45pm.
Euro Qualifying / Matchday 5
Arena Nationala / 05.09.2019
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- F. Andone(60')
- S. Ramos(30' PEN)
- P. Alcácer(48')
Live
Live Updates
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Updated 05/09/2019 at 21:41 GMT+1
27'
Penalty to Spain! Ceballos is down... just as it looked as though he messed up Spain's attack, the referee points to the spot.
25'
In a nutshell, the good old statistician MisterChip is telling you this is the first competitive match Spain have fielded an XI with players from 10 different clubs. Only Busquets and Alba are club team-mates.
23'
Navas quite possibly Spain's best player so far. They've dominated possession, but Romania seem to have weathered that early storm.
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19'
Patient play, as ever, from Spain, but this time Busquets' little dinked ball over the top cannot find Rodrigo.
17'
A break from defending for Romania as they go forward and win a free-kick 30 yards out. Stanciu goes for goal but he curls it over the bar.
14'
ANOTHER SAVE! Tatarusanu stop No 4.
Navas whips a cross in and it finds his fellow full-back beyond the back post, and Alba's first-time effort draws a save from the right foot of the Romanian goalkeeper.
12'
FINE SAVE! I'm already running out of words to put in front of save! Fine will do this time, as it's another quality stop from Tatarusanu who tips Ramos' header over after he pulled free following a corner.
10'
Chiriches tries his luck from distance but his effort sails harmlessly over.
9'
Some of Moreno's bolder calls will become a bit clearer as time goes on, eg. whether Kepa will be No 1 going forward. However, in facing Faroe Islands at home on Sunday, it could be a different XI entirely.
7'
GREAT SAVE! This time it's a stunning pass from Jesus Navas which plays in Alcacer, and from a tight angle again he forces a fine low save Tatarusanu, who gets fingertips to it and nudges it wide.
The corner comes to nothing for Spain.
5'
Worth noting a couple of Moreno's selections for Spain. There was a big debate regarding who would start in goal, and it's Kepa who gets the gloves ahead of De Gea.
Meanwhile, Llorente is fancied as Ramos' centre-back partner. Will also be worth monitoring their shape and whether Ceballos will push up in a more advanced role.
2'
SAVE! Bright start from Spain as Alcacer is played through on goal, and from a tight angle he forces a decent save from Tatarusanu.
1st Half
KICK-OFF
And away we go.... but only after the referee delays the start due to the fans creating a few problems it would seem.
Can Spain maintain there unbeaten start to qualifiers in a country they've never won? Let's find out...
19.46
Ahead of kick-off there'll be a minute's silence following the death of Luis Enrique's daughter, who sadly lost her battle with cancer last week - and as ever a ripple of applause breaks out.
19.43
The teams are out. National anthem time and then we'll be good to go.
19.41
Both teams have scored 11 goals in their four group games so far, while Spain have conceded two to Romania’s five.
Romania’s Claudiu Keseru is currently the second-top goalscorer across the European Qualifiers with five goals, two behind Israel’s Eran Zahavi.
For Spain, defender Sergio Ramos is on three along with Alvaro Morata – the duo both scored from the spot in their most recent match, a 3-0 win over Sweden in June.
19.39
This will be the two nations’ first meeting in the group, with the reverse fixture coming on the final matchday back in Spain.
Including this one, four of Romania’s remaining six matches are at home. It’s a tall order tonight, but they’ll hope/need to make that advantage count – especially when hosting Norway and Sweden in the next two months.
19.35
A shoo-in for Spain? Far from it. They have not won in six visits to Romania (D3 L3). They’ve met 16 times overall, with both winning five apiece.
Their last meeting came in a friendly three years ago and was a… *sigh* …0-0 draw in Romania.
19.31
So then, Romania-Spain. Group F.
Spain lead the way with 12 points after four wins from four. Romania are five points behind and seemingly locked in a battle for second with Sweden (also seven points) and Norway, who are currently two points behind.
19.25
Looks like the Spanish enjoyed their training session last night...