Valencia forward, Rodrigo was the hero as Spain secured their ticket to the Euro2020 on Tuesday night in Solna, Sweden.
Rodrigo came off the bench to score a dramatic late goal as Spain rescued a point against a very stubborn Sweden side.
🇪🇸 #EURO2020 qualification confirmed! ✅
Bravo, Spain! 🥳 pic.twitter.com/rc7VP1hGvF
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— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) October 15, 2019
Spain had never won in Sweden before and that record looked set to continue when Marcus Berg put the host 1-0 ahead five minutes into the second half following a dull and goalless opening 45 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for Spain when they were forced to make a change, goalkeeper, David De Gea picking up what looked like a hamstring with Kepa Arrizabalaga replacing the Manchester United number one.
With time running out, Spain with all their possession found Sweden a difficult nut to crack but just when the home side thought they had done enough to get at least a point, substitute, Rodrigo broke their hearts.
Sweden failed to deal with a corner kick in added time with Rodrigo reacting quickly to score the decisive equaliser for Spain that sealed their place in the European Championship next year.
It was not a vintage performance from La Roja, but it was enough to see them safely through to the finals, while leaving Sweden to ponder what might have been.
“I’m super pleased to get qualification, ” Rodrigo told Uefa.com after the match. “I think we deserved more, especially from the first half. But it was a tough game and it’s objective achieved”
Elsewhere, it was another 1-1 in the other Group F match as Romania was held at home by Norway.
Switzerland defeated Ireland 2-0 at home, while Gibraltar was not that lucky after a 2-3 loss at home to Georgia.
Former world champions, Italy, were the biggest winners of the night after a 0-5 thrashing of their hosts, Liechtenstein.
Andrea Belotti helped himself to a brace, Federico Bernardeschi, Alescio Romagnoli and Stephen El-Shaarawy were the other scorers for the Italians.
