Spain head coach, Luis Enrique, has claimed his team has taken 1,000 penalty kicks in training ahead of their last-16 match against Morocco.
La Roja were eliminated from the semi-finals of Euro 2020 by eventual winners Italy in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw after 120 minutes.
Enrique divulged that, following that defeat, he had set his players the “homework” of taking “at least 1000” penalties, as they aim to avoid a similar fate in Qatar.
“I imagine that they have done their homework. Over a year ago, in one of the Spain camps, I told them they had to get here with at least 1,000 penalties taken. If you wait until getting here to practise penalties… [it won’t be enough],” he told reporters.
“It’s a moment of maximum tension, a time to show your nerve and that you can shoot the penalty in the way you have decided, if you have trained it a thousand times. It says a lot about each player. It’s trainable, manageable, how you manage the tension. It’s increasingly less luck – the goalkeepers have more influence. We have a very good goalkeeper, any of the three can do very well in this situation. Every time we finish training, I see a lot of players taking penalties.”
The words of the Spain manager obviously had their desired effect, with forward Ferran Torres converting from 12 yards in the 7-0 drubbing of Costa Rica in their group opener. However, a draw and a loss followed that resounding win which meant La Roja eventually qualified second from Group E, setting up a meeting in the last 16 against Morocco on Tuesday.
