Spain arrives at the European Championship without Putellas but with the favorite poster

The team led by Jorge Vilda faces the event without having lost any game since March 2020 and already qualified for the next relevant international tournament, the 2023 World Cup.

These records have also arrived accompanied by many goals for and very few against, data that reflect dominance and effectiveness. All this, together with a colorful game style, has generated justified expectations.

However, one does not live by them and the Spanish team will try to abstract itself from that atmosphere of illusion so as not to lose focus and start off on the right foot in a group where they have also played against Germany and Denmark.

It will not be the only obligation for the expedition, since it also has to turn the page regarding the absence of Putellas. The rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in the left knee of the current Ballon d’Or is a major setback, but the team hopes to overcome it.

Beyond Putellas’ injury, whose gap has been filled by Amaiur Sarriegi, in principle the coach will be able to count on all the available players. Among them is not Salma Paralluelo, initially included in the final list but who will also miss the tournament due to injury.

In the case of Finland, they face the continental event as the team with the fewest options in the group a priori. But that doesn’t make him any less dangerous, as his records in qualifying leave him in a good place.

The Nordics arrive after having added twenty-two points out of a possible twenty-four in a group where they coincided with Portugal, Scotland, Albania and Cyprus. They also conceded only two goals and scored twenty-four.

Almost half of them were the work of Linda Sällström, who with ten goals was one of the top scorers in the European phase. She is joined in addition by other players who are breaking out in the big leagues such as Sanni Franssi (Real Sociedad), Tuija Hyyrynen (Juventus) or Eveliina Summanen and Tinja-Riikka Korpela (Tottenham).