Julen Lopetegui explained his False 9 approach and predicting Italy’s 4-2-4 system after Spain earned a 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory.
Isco scored twice in the first half with Alvaro Morata getting the third to seal the Bernabeu showdown.
“Perfection does not exist in football. We knew that there could be difficult moments, as Italy are a team that force you to defend very well,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
Julen Lopetegui explained his False 9 approach and predicting Italy’s 4-2-4 system after Spain earned a 3-0 World Cup qualifying victory.
Isco scored twice in the first half with Alvaro Morata getting the third to seal the Bernabeu showdown.
“Perfection does not exist in football. We knew that there could be difficult moments, as Italy are a team that force you to defend very well,” said the Coach in his Press conference.
“The team put in a great performance against an excellent rival. We are happy, but not satisfied, as we haven’t qualified for the World Cup yet.
“Isco had a magnificent game, as did others, and obviously he broke the deadlock, then scored the second. He did very well defensively too. He wanted to be a protagonist tonight. Isco has a great deal of quality and is becoming a wonderful player, but he needs to be complete off the ball too and that area has really improved over the past year.
“It was not easy to make a decision on my line-up today, as others could’ve played, but we preferred to go without a centre-forward regardless of how Italy played.
“At the end of the day, systems don’t change that much. It was a tough game for Marco Asensio.”
While Spain opted for a False 9, leaving Morata initially on the bench, Giampiero Ventura went all-out attack with 4-2-4.
“We did expect Italy to play like that, but we weren’t certain. Antonio Candreva is doing very well and he created a few problems for us. They could’ve equalised with Andrea Belotti’s header, but David De Gea was phenomenal.
“Italy are a great side, there is no doubt, but tonight we deserved the three points. We did feel how important the match was and playing at the Bernabeu, the atmosphere was formidable. I felt that the crowd helped us a lot.”