Spain coach praises Scotland's resilient display
Spain national team coach Vicente del Bosque had high praise for his side’s opponents after Scotland almost earned themselves a point in their UEFA 2012 European Football Championship qualifying match
on Tuesday (12 October).
The Scots fought back from two goals down — after David Villa scored from a penalty and Andres Iniesta struck — to restore parity though a Steven Naismith header and an own goal by Gerard Pique to leave
themselves on the verge of claiming a famous draw. However, a lapse in concentration by centre-back Steven McManus allowed Fernando Llorente to thump home a winner.
Despite the loss, Scotland — who had played much more positively than in their 1-0 defeat at the hands of Czech Republic last week — were valiant in their efforts to win something from the game against
the world and European champions, a fact which did not go unnoticed by Del Bosque who admitted that his side had been in a battle.
The Spain manager told reporters that: "It was more down to the character and fighting spirit of Scotland, they fought to the end of the game but we managed to convert our chances. We can be satisfied
with our performance, we varied our play and made chances. There was no point that we thought we would lose but I knew we were in a very tough game.
'Czechs are now closest rivals'
“There is no reason to think it is all over for Scotland but our closest rivals at the moment are the Czech Republic. We can relax a little now and put the competition to sleep until March, but the Czech
Republic are our main rivals after they prevailed against Liechtenstein."
Winger Pablo Hernandez, who came on as a substitute, added that Scotland reacted well to going two goals behind.
He said that: “We didn't relax at 2-0, Scotland responded quickly and very well. One of the characteristics of this Spain team is not to stop attacking until the final moment. We knew we'd get more chances
and luckily we took one. But it took a lot for us to win."
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