‘Scandalous’ Spain show why their biggest flaw may not matter | OneFootball

An indication of fallibility, before an exhibition of overwhelming strength. Belgium illustrated that you can actually do something against Spain, only for the world champions to show that there’s almost nothing you can do when they get going.

And they really got going here. The last 40 minutes of this 6-2 win over Belgium formed by far the best spell of football in Euro 2025 so far. The exquisite and intricate interchanges around the box were even crowned by a sublime long-range strike from Claudia Pina, as if to remind just how many ways Spain can hurt you.

It also made it 10 goals in two games, before Alexia Putellas made it 11, with so many more evidently to come.

“They have become so much more efficient,” Belgium manager Elisabet Gunnarsdottir said, ominously for the rest of the tournament. Even more ominously, manager Montse Tome said they “have to get better”, in relation to the two conceded.

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Hannah Eurlings briefly stunned Spain after half time when Belgium equalised for the second time (Getty)

Spain’s shift in gears coincided with the Belgians making it 2-2, illustrating Gunnarsdottir’s team had made them angry. You evidently don’t want to make them angry… or step out, or sit back too deep, or allow Aitana Bonmati on the ball, or allow Pina a long shot. And that’s before you even get to the resurgent Putellas, the ingenuity of Mariona Caldentey, the finishing of Esther Gonzalez, the guile of Vicky Lopez...

“This is the good thing Spain have,” Tome added. “So many players of this quality.”

Putellas described her teammates’ quality as "scandalous".

The belief among other squads in this tournament is that Spain can be in a league of their own if they want to be. Gunnarsdottir indicated that, stating that “Spain have every cleverness and skill you would want in a football team”.

Certainly, as they showed in the final 40 minutes here, they are virtually unstoppable when they get “the carousel” going. Once they are circulating that ball at speed, playmakers like Aitana and Alexia just constantly keeping it moving at pace, there isn’t currently a team in the women’s game that can stop them.

“They understand the game to a different level than most other players,” Gunnarsdottir said. “We chose ‘corridor defending’, where you never chase the Spanish players from one corner to another. Because, if you do that, you end up in a bit of a s***show.”

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Esther Gonzalez is already up to three goals for the tournament (Getty)

That’s one way of putting it.

If you were to attempt to show any kind of flaws – and give some idea of hope to anyone else at this tournament – it is actually about what happens before they get started, or when they suddenly try to retreat.

Belgium actually looked like one of the teams that might have something close to Spain’s number, which is saying something when that still adds up to a 6-2 defeat. It says even more that they can be rightly proud of a creditable display that still ended in a four-goal defeat. Belgium have now put four past Spain in two games. February’s friendly in Valencia had seen them lead 2-0 up to the 77th minute, only for the world champions to score, then hit another two in injury time for a 3-2 comeback.

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Claudia Pina scored a sensational goal as Spain eased clear of Belgium in the second half (Getty)

The Belgians have nevertheless shown that Spain can be got at with quick transitions. They managed that four times, the last bringing their second equaliser through Hannah Eurlings. This is something opposition teams can focus on.

There is also a certain vulnerability at set pieces, as illustrated by Belgium’s first equaliser. Gunnarsdottir had promised her team would score in that way. Here, just a minute after Putellas had given Spain the lead with a supremely worked opening goal, Justine Vanhaevermaet immediately struck back with a close-range header from a corner.

The only problem there is that most sides don’t have a six-foot-one midfielder like that. Spain do have a comparable aerial presence, though. Their response was a towering Irene Paredes header from a corner, just another weapon in their armoury.

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Spain have now scored 11 goals in two games at Euro 2025 (Getty)

And, once Belgium got that surprising second equaliser, they were fully in the mood to use that arsenal. Spain never really looked back, other than to find another teammate.

Even Bonmati came on for a longer cameo than in the 5-0 win over Portugal, and you wouldn’t have thought she was in hospital with viral meningitis two weeks ago.

She was demanding the ball, getting things going.

“She’d want to play right now,” Tome said. “But we don’t want to take any risks with her.”

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Aitana Bonmati saw more minutes as she builds towards the knockout stages (Reuters)

Esther showed Spain’s sense of mission with an immediate response, before Mariona converted another set piece.

“Pushing to get back into a game for a third time against Spain is really difficult, I can tell you,” Gunnarsdottir said. “You end up trying to keep the numbers down as goal difference can be important.”

Pina then got the pick of the goals, before Alexia turned in another set piece to produce the kind of margin that Spain’s performance properly deserved.

Belgium, by then, couldn’t get near them. Few teams in this tournament will be able to.

One other element of hope for everyone else is that, from Sunday, this does become a knockout tournament. Even the most lopsided of fixtures can bring a fall if they’re one-off games. It just takes one bad match, one spell where the ball doesn’t go in.

France, on the evidence of this, have the specific attackers to hurt Spain; to exploit some of these issues. Spain just look like they have so much more, and like they are only getting better.