Le Normand shines in debut for buoyant Spain

Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said that his team's morale was "sky high" after they beat Italy 2-1 on Thursday to reach the Nations League final against Croatia.

ENSCHEDE - La Roja snatched a late winner through Joselu after Italy's Ciro Immobile cancelled out Yeremy Pino's opening goal.

Victory was a relief for de la Fuente, who had been criticised heavily after his first two matches in charge in March, the second of which was a 2-0 loss to Scotland in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.

"(I feel) satisfaction and pride, I think we played an extremely high-level game," he said.

"We followed what we had prepared. We're happy and our morale is sky high." The coach handed Robin le Normand his debut after the Frenchborn defender obtained Spanish nationality in May, and the Real Sociedad player, 26, impressed despite conceding an early penalty for handball.

"We have seen him so many times, he's shown he's top draw.