Spain more prolific than Barca, says coach ahead of Malta game
ByReuters
Published 25/03/2019 at 19:50 GMT
TA'QALI, Malta, March 25 (Reuters) - Spain coach Luis Enrique has brushed aside concerns about their scoring ability by pointing out that the national team have a better goal average than runaway La Liga leaders Barcelona.
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Spain needed a penalty by Sergio Ramos to see off Norway 2-1 in their opening Euro 2020 Group F qualifier and visit Malta on Tuesday aiming to continue their positive start to the campaign.
Forwards Alvaro Morata and Marco Asensio squandered clear chances against Norway but the Spain coach laughed off suggestions his side were struggling to find the net.
"The debate about a lack of goals has reached me, but we have scored 19 goals in my seven games," Luis Enrique told a news conference ahead of the game with Malta.
"That's 2.7 goals per game, and Barca have 2.6 and they are the top goalscorers in Spain. So for a team that apparently has a problem with goals, we're not doing too badly."
The coach also emphasised the quality of Spain's performance in their last outing, despite the narrow winning margin.
"The other day we played better than when we beat Croatia 6-0. There were some very good spells, very few errors, we pressed high and we won all the second balls," he added.
"It was a nine out of 10 performance, the only reason it wasn't a 10 was we missed chances to score more."
Malta also have three points after winning their opening game 2-1 against the Faroe Islands. (Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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