Christian Eriksen’s strong first half for Denmark not enough to topple superior Spain

Christian Eriksen impressed in the first half of Denmark’s Nations League defeat to Spain tonight but failed to impose himself in an extraordinarily one-sided second.

Spain may have only won 1-0 in Murcia but largely battered the Danes, recording 25 shots to their visitors’ three and enjoying 61% of possession, as per sofascore.

After the interval Denmark didn’t manage a single shot and Eriksen, along with the rest of their frontline, quickly faded from view and was replaced by Gustav Isaksen on 72 minutes.

Rasmus Hojlund entered the fray six minutes later but had little chance of making a difference in the face of wave upon wave of Spanish aggression.

Manchester United’s number 9 only had three touches of the ball and lost possession with one of them, but he was faced with an impossible task and shouldn’t be judged harshly.

For all their dominance it took Spain until the 79th minute to make it count, when Martin Zubimendi’s volley from outside the box snuck under goalkeeper Kaspar Schmeichel, who will be disappointed.

Schmeichel was otherwise impressive, and had Kaspar Dolberg been sharper before the break things could have looked a lot different.

A gorgeous ball over the top from Eriksen (recorded as a key pass by sofascore) set Dolberg free, but he was impressively denied by Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya.

In the earlier stages Eriksen thrived as he was deployed further forward than his usual role with United, where he has generally played deeper to partner Kobbie Mainoo.

He kept things ticking over from his right-sided position, finding his man with 89% of his passes and pinging five crosses into the box.

His sofascore rating of 7.0 was the highest of the Danish players, and it is telling that the left of Spain’s defence and their left-sided midfielder Fabian Ruiz scored highest as Eriksen ruffled some feathers.

Ultimately his efforts were in vain, but Denmark did well to avoid a drubbing and remain second in League A Group 4.

All stats courtesy of sofascore.

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