the injury of Pau Cubars\u00ed<\/a> occurred, resulting from a harsh tackle by Memphis Depay while contesting a loose ball. The Barcelona center-back tried to continue but was forced to leave the field in the 40th minute due to pain in his right ankle. Debutant Dean Huijsen came on in his place, and La Roja, with difficulty, managed to hold the draw until halftime.<\/p> Spain salvaged a draw at the end<\/h2> The ‘Orange’ regained the lead right after the start of the second half. A great run by Frimpong down the left allowed the Bayer Leverkusen full-back to leave Cucurella behind and deliver a lethal cross that Tijjani Reijnders volleyed, firing past Unai Sim\u00f3n<\/strong>. Everything seemed set for a Dutch victory, but the national team improved in the final 20 minutes with the substitutions of Dani Olmo and Mikel Oyarzabal for Pedri and Lamine Yamal.<\/p> The ’19’ did not have his best night, neutralized by the good defensive work of the hosts and the lack of a partner in attack, as Morata was quite disconnected. Towards the end, the expulsion of Jorrel Hato for a late tackle on Le Normand tilted the field in favor of a Spain pushing for the equalizer. In the 90+3′, the long-awaited goal arrived, scored by Mikel Merino<\/strong>. The midfielder picked up a rebound from goalkeeper Verbruggen, who was caught off guard by a shot from Nico Williams from the left.<\/p> Thus, La Roja salvaged a draw with a taste of glory, although they still have not won away against the Netherlands. With Thursday’s result, they have 4 losses in 6 outings for a Spain that has only managed to salvage two draws so far on Dutch soil. The return leg will be next Sunday at Mestalla, at 20:45<\/strong>. Additionally, the national team remains unbeaten under Luis de la Fuente after 22 official matches.<\/p> Technical sheet of the match Netherlands 2-2 Spain<\/h2> Netherlands, 2<\/strong>: Verbruggen; Geertruida, Van Hecke, Van Dijk, Hato; Kluivert (min. 75, Xavi Simons), Reijnders (min. 90+1, Wieffer), De Jong (min. 75, Koopmeiners); Memphis Depay (min. 84, De Ligt), Gakpo and Frimpong<\/li> \t Spain, 2<\/strong>: Unai Sim\u00f3n; Pedro Porro, Le Normand, Cubars\u00ed (min. 40, Huijsen), Cucurella; Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz (min. 84, Mikel Merino), Zubimendi, Lamine Yamal (min. 66 Oyarzabal), Pedri (min. 66, Olmo), Nico Williams and \u00c1lvaro Morata (min. 66, Ayoze)<\/li> \t Goals<\/strong>: 0-1, Nico Williams (min. 9); 1-1, Cody Gakpo (min. 28); 2-1, Tijjani Reijnders (min. 46); 2-2, Mikel Merino (min. 90+3).<\/li> \t Referee<\/strong>: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden). Cautioned Van Dijk and Gakpo for the Netherlands. For Spain, he cautioned Dean Huijsen and Ayoze P\u00e9rez. He also sent off Jorrel Hato for a second yellow card in the second half.<\/li> \t Incidents<\/strong>: match corresponding to the first leg of the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals 2024-25.<\/li> <\/ul> ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spain salvaged a draw in their visit to the Netherlands (2-2), on a stellar day for Nico Williams Spain and the Netherlands drew in the first leg of the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals on Thursday in Rotterdam (2-2). The hosts came back from an early goal scored by Nico Williams in the 9th minute with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":347,"featured_media":41130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_nextfly_llmd_date_locked":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[452,109],"tags":[180,140],"class_list":["post-41128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-2","category-football","tag-fc-barcelona-results","tag-uefa-nations-league"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Netherlands 2-2 Spain: La Roja survives a tumultuous day in Rotterdam<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n