The journalist from the prestigious Spanish newspaper acknowledges that after Nadal’s historic triumph at Roland Garros, it’s hard to find any positive in the performance of the national football team.

“Coming back to planet Earth, whatever happened in Eden would be small. It would be a speck of dust on the world sport Everest,” wrote Jose Luis Hurtado.

In his commentary, he obviously wanted to stay in space for a moment, as analysis of the Nations League match grafted the 36-year-old Nadal onto the fourteenth winning campaign in Paris.

“It was played without kings, presidents, models, actors, singers or legendary sports personalities.Due to the absence of clay in Prague, there was grass in the stadium and we had an opponent who plays the same on all surfaces. But Spain has tightened its headband again to a hair’s breadth for a new match. A juice was waiting for him, who was known to take care of returning all the balls without too much risk. »

According to Marcy, however, it was the home side who were the first to ‘break through’ Spain, when Pešek struck in the 5th minute. On the contrary Coach Luis Enrique’s stars didn’t do much in the first forty-five minutes. Although the guests held the ball, combined they almost missed the chances.

“The sad first half almost slipped away. With already soiled socks and on the way to the locker room for the vitamins we caught the ball in space and Gavi placed it with his left foot away from Vaclík’s gloves,” Hurtado described the equaliser.

One of the turning points was a triple substitution in the 61st minute, which sent three heavyweights onto the pitch: Sergio Busquetse, Álvaro Moratu and Mark Asensio. And it was the Real Madrid shot-stopper who briefly aimed his shot only at Vaclik’s goal post.

“He hit the ball in the wood with the first shot. Lefties are simply unpredictable – like McEnroe, Vilas or a certain Rafa”, a Spanish journalist did not let go of Nadal’s line.

Jan Kuchta did not forget to appreciate the big lob, but overall the match caused great discomfort among the Spaniards. “The Prague Open ended in a draw. And the final result will leave another mountain of doubts,” he added bitterly.

A ridiculous version of Spain

Other media weren’t so outspoken in assessing the match, but they also spared no criticism. El País recalls that the 2010 world champions were saved by Iñig Martínez’s goal in the 90th minute.

“England, France, Croatia or Spain – these are teams that increase the credit of friendlies thanks to the Nations League format. Opponents who don’t have such resonant names have their moments. So the Czech Republic was the Czech Republic and Spain was just a ridiculous version of Spain,” the daily writes.

El Mundo introduced the title “Anxiety in Prague for the ‘enriquitos'”, playing with the name of coach Luis Enrique during the appointment of the Spanish national team.

“We saw exhausted team in deplorable physical condition. A party that could not face the Czech team, which ran with maximum commitment and dissolved Spain with two counterattacks. »

However, the biggest criticism from Spanish journalists fell on the defence, the composition of which was coached by coach Luis Enrique. According to the EFE agency, the match was marked by two serious individual fouls, Carvajal and García having failed in front of the scored goals. “We played badly and the defense was uncertain. Six months before the World Cup, it’s a warning. The only two positives are Martinez’s equalizer and Gavi’s performance,” As.com said.