Spain’s Cesc Fabregas was benched during the night after a surprise inclusion of Negredo in the first-team, but Spain won the game and qualified for the final.
Spain faced Portugal in the semi-final stage of the Euro 2012. The defending champions were favourites to win the game with ease, but Portugal made it hard for them to play their tiki-taka style-of-play.
However, Spain managed to qualify for the final, all thanks to a penalty shootout which went in their favour.
Spain were being considered as favourites to win the final of the Euro 2012, especially as they have immense start power in not only the midfield but also up front; but since they are currently missing out on their first-choice centre-back and striker, Carles
Puyol and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Villa-c10629, scoring goals is getting difficult for them.
While facing Portugal, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 misfiring and Cesc Fabregas being a defensive option in the false 9 role.
Therefore, the Spanish coach decided to play http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Negredo-c5294 in the final third. It was taken as a shock by the Spanish fans as no one expected Del Bosque to play Negredo out of nowhere. However, with the Spaniard not being able to impress during the game,
he was replaced by Cesc Fabregas later on.
With Cesc Fabregas coming on as a substitute, he was unable to make a sudden impact as he was deployed in his new-found ‘false 9’ role. The Spaniard admitted that he did not perform at his best; however, he was happy with the fact that Spain won the game,
even though it was only on penalties.
"I played poorly, but the team worked really hard."
However, he still spoke about how he wanted to remain calm and play good for his national side. the Spaniard said:
"I was just thinking that I couldn't let the country down and tried to be calm and score."
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Portugal-c2984.
While addressing the press, Cesc Fabregas said:
"I had this intuition that we could advance if we went to penalties and that's what we did. Being in another final is a miracle. It's really incredible."
Spain will either face http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 in the final of the Euro 2012.
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