Marta Cardona celebrates the winning goal this Saturday against Denmark. /
It cost but Spain is already in the quarterfinals of the European Championship by beating Denmark by the minimum with a headed goal by former royalist Marta Cardona in the 90th minute. A goal that, however, left Amaiur without time, prepared minutes before to be replaced. With the only novelty of Athenea in the eleven –she came on for Laia Aleixandri–, Spain dominated the first ten minutes of the game with more than 70% of possession. Later, between minute 12 and minute 20, it was the Nordics who warned up to five times, always with Harder as the protagonist.
The Chelsea striker, one of the best in the world, combined well with Holmgaard, albeit without a prize, shortly before throwing a great clearance behind Leila and Mapi that forced Paños to leave the area. The shot, somewhat forced by the goalkeeper’s exit to the limit, went over the crossbar. Another clear one came in the sixteenth, when Harder again put Paños in trouble, who caught the ball well from below.
That yes, after these scares, Spain returned to become strong from midfield up and was about to score three times. The first in the 25th minute when a measured cross from Sheila got past Lucia but bounced off Athenea to put Christensen in trouble under the sticks. The second, eight later, he was able to crown Mariona but her shot – more placed than powerful – hardly did any damage. And, finally, the clearest, caused by a mistake in the exit of the rival goalkeeper. Athenea didn’t take advantage of it.
Already in the second half, Vilda opted for a triple substitution at half-time – Cardona, Esther and Carmona –, and Spain once again showed great actions on the counterattack while Denmark, who only had to win to pass, tried unsuccessfully to do the same with the entrance to the field of all his artillery. This is how the last quarter of an hour went, in which Paños took a saving hand from a shot by Nadim and Marta Cardona put the icing on the cake with a cross header shortly before the stoppage to give victory to Spain.
