Each call from the selection to Pablo Fornals has practically meant a rerun. From his first internationality (May 2016) to his second (November 2018) a year and a half passed. And for the third to arrive, almost three more years had to pass. His work so far has been more of a wild card than anything else. He was among the meritorious that Vicente del Bosque recruited before Euro 2016, a group of young players (Fornals was then 20 years old) who filled the group until the footballers of the two Champions finalists, Real Madrid and Atlético, joined. He also carried out this support work last June, within bubble B that was installed in Las Rozas after Sergio Busquets tested positive for coronavirus. In that group were also Albiol, Soler and Brais, all of them summoned on this occasion. Luis Enrique got tired of thanking those players’ commitment and predisposition, who cut their vacations to dress short knowing that their options to go to the European Championship were slim. Fornals lost track in Spain in 2019, when West Ham paid Villarreal 28 million for him. Before, the Castellón club paid 12 to Málaga for recovering a footballer who started in their quarry. The distance and the lack of focus have prevented us from seeing more of a superlative footballer, who has added shot and depth to his undeniable talent. In England he plays more focused, but in Pristina he repeated in the position where Luis Enrique tested him in the last hour against Georgia. In Tbilisi he delivered his first assist, a measured pass to the far post for Sarabia to score the fourth goal. And yesterday he also made his debut as a scorer, leaving a great technical detail for the gallery, receiving from behind, turning to get rid of his defender and shooting with his left foot adjusted to the post. His good understanding with Reguilón, a newcomer to the team to make amends for Gayà’s loss and Jordi Alba’s physical problems, was also surprising. Together with Soler, once again very solvent inside, they turned that lane into the main source of danger for Kosovo. In the second half his performance fell, like that of the rest of the team, and Luis Enrique ended up making him his first change to bring Adama in. His start to the season in the Premier has been spectacular, with two goals and one assist in the first three games. At the age of 25, he is experiencing a moment of maturity that Luis Enrique already guessed the first time he had him: «He is like a semi-veteran. I think it will come many times. “Playing my first game with the national team, starting, scoring … It is a special day for me and my family,” Fornals explained as soon as the game ended on RTVE. “In the end, with the result from Sweden, we were able to fix it a little bit. We knew they were going to make it difficult for us, that they are trying to play, that they have a very big striker who was going to drop balls … ». .
