Euro 2020 Preview: Spain vs Poland, key stats, H2H, Line-ups, Prediction

Ferran Torres-Spain

Poland will travel to Seville this Saturday to face Spain in the second group game of their European Championship.

Stadium: Estadio de La Cartuja (Sevilla)

Key Statistics

Spain are now unbeaten in their last nine games. They have failed to score in two of their last three games. They are unbeaten in 14 internationals games played on home soil.

Poland are on a run of four games without a win (D2, L2). They have kept one clean sheet in their last eight games and have conceded two or more goals in six of their last eight games 

Head to Head – Spain vs Poland

Spain 8 wins; 1 draw; Poland 1 win; Spain scored 27 goals against 8 by Poland (in total of 10 matches)

Latest Performances

Spain: DWWDWD (Goals for 10, Goals against 3)

Poland: DWLDDL (Goals for 11, Goals against 10)

Spain

Despite controlling over 85% of the ball—the largest ever possession figure in a single major tournament over 90 minutes—Spain could not find a way past Sweden in their first match and had to settle for a draw.

The game was the second time in three games that Spain failed to score in a game, underlining a recent rustiness in front of goal. However, the last two occasions were the only time they have failed to score in their last ten games showing that the problem is only a recent development.

They will now hope to correct that anomaly when they play Poland in the second group game. 

La Roja enters this tie unbeaten in nine games and with just one loss in their last 25 games. Furthermore, they have not failed to score in back-to-back fixtures since the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup and boast an excellent H2H record vs Poland (W8, D1, L1). 

One positive news for them is that Sergio Busquets returns to Spain squad after testing negative for COVID-19.

Possible line-ups 

Unai Simon; Marcos Llorente, Aymeric Laporte, Pau Lopez, Jose Gaya; Thiago Alcantara, Rodri, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres, Alvaro Morata, Mikel Oyarzabal.

Poland

Poland succumbed to a disappointing 2-1 loss to Slovakia in their opening Group E match, meaning that they enter this game bottom of the table. 

The Eagles have found it difficult in recent times and are entering this tie without a win in their last four games. They did not fail to score in that period but were undone by their defence, which conceded two or more goals in three of those four games. 

Their record in the European Championship is also a big worry for them, considering that they have won just two of their last 12 games in the competition (D6, L4). Equally, they failed to score over one goal in any of those 12 fixtures. 

Against Spain, who are currently struggling to score, they will hope to pick up their first win of the European Championship and at least keep their hopes of progressing from this group alive.

Possible line-ups 

Wojciech Szczesny; Kamil Piatkowski, Kamil Glik, Pawel Dawidowicz, Bartosz Bereszynski; Grzegorz Krychowiak, Mateusz Klich, Piotr Zielinski, Tymoteusz Puchacz; Kamil Jozwiak, Robert Lewandowski.

Probability

Spain : Draw : Poland :: 73% : 18% : 9%

Prediction

Spain 2-1 Poland