EURO insights: How Nico Williams has given Spain extra edge
Sunday, June 23, 2024
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UEFA's performance analysis unit takes a closer look at Spain winger Nico Williams following his bright start to this tournament.
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Even before landing in Germany with his national team, Spain's Athletic Club winger Nico Williams had ensured 2024 would be a year to remember.
After all, in April he helped Athletic win the Copa del Rey – their first major trophy for 40 years – scoring goals against Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid along the way.
Here at UEFA EURO 2024, he has enhanced his reputation further already, starting both of Spain's matches so far and shining in particular during the 1-0 win against Italy. A threat every time he had the ball, the 21-year-old was singled out for his "one v one play" by UEFA technical observer Fabio Capello, who awarded him the Player of the Match prize.
"The one-on-one situations are my forte," Williams himself said after a match in which he was positive, fast and direct, always looking to make things happen.
Even if he does not start Monday's fixture against Albania, whoever Group B winners Spain face in the last 16 will know they need not simply worry about Lamine Yamal, the teenager on the other wing.
Indeed, Williams had as many successful take-ons (four) against Italy as Yamal and, as this analysis will show, Spain's left-sided threat includes a further dimension in the understanding Williams has forged with Marc Cucurella, the full-back behind him.
The heatmap above shows where Williams was especially active, and the image is fitting for the sight of Cucurella making a run inside him – something we will return to later.
First, though, to elaborate on Williams' area of maximum influence, the second graphic below shows the precise locations of his key attacking actions, breaking them down into crosses, key passes, shots and take-ons.
His supply of balls from the left included an early cross for a Pedri header after he had taken the ball past Italy right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo for the first time – a statement of intent on a night when he produced 12 take-ons, the highest number so far at this EURO.
Williams' positivity on the ball is illustrated also by the metric below for line-breaking dribbles. This is a winger who looks to beat his man and, having racked up 13 such dribbles, he boasted significantly more than the second-ranked player in Spanish colours, Pedri.
Connecting with Cucurella
The second part of this analysis focuses on the way in which Williams combined with Cucurella. The screenshot below shows how they attacked in tandem, often with an underlapping run from the left-back. In this particular example, Cucurella drew one defender with him, meaning that Williams had only one man to beat when stepping inside to launch a shot against the crossbar.
According to UEFA's performance analysts, Williams likes to mix his approach, going outside on some occasions and inside on others, and having Cucurella attacking with him allows for even more variation.
Consider how, after 52 minutes of the Italy game, Williams fed Cucurella on an underlapping run and the full-back supplied the cutback for a Pedri near miss. Three minutes later, with Cucurella inside again, Williams chose another option, jinking outside Di Lorenzo and crossing for Riccardo Calafiori's own goal.
Cucurella is a trusted lieutenant of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente – as a graduate of the coach's former Under-21 national team – and he also knows when to stay deep and let Williams go it alone, such as when he collected from the left-back and ran at his man before crossing for Pedri's early header.
Finally, it was not just on the ball that Williams made an impact the other night. This last chart reflects his willingness to ask questions of defenders without the ball too, showing he ranked first in the Spain side for runs in behind (12).
All in all, then, it was a highly impressive display from Williams, one which augurs well both for him and Spain when the knockout stage begins.
Technical observers at EURO 2024