Switzerland vs Spain Nations League preview: Where to watch, prediction, form guide
Thursday, June 9, 2022
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When is it? How can you watch it? All you need to know about the UEFA Nations League Group A2 game between Switzerland and Spain.
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Switzerland and Spain meet in UEFA Nations League Group A2 on Thursday 9 June.
Switzerland vs Spain at a glance
When: Thursday 9 June (20:45 CET kick-off)
Where: Stade de Genève, Geneva
What: UEFA Nations League Group A2 fixture
How to follow: Build-up and live coverage will appear here
Where to watch Switzerland vs Spain on TV
Fans can find their local UEFA Nations League broadcast partner(s) here.
Starting line-ups
Switzerland: Switzerland: Sommer; Widmer, Akanji, Cömert, Rodríguez; Xhaka, Aebischer, Freuler; Shaqiri, Embolo, Zuber.
Spain: Unai Simón; Azpilicueta, Diego Llorente, Pau Torres, Jordi Alba; Marcos Llorente, Sergio Busquets, Gavi; Ferran Torres, Morata, Sarabia.
Form guide
Switzerland (most recent match first): LLDLWD
Spain (most recent match first): DDWWWW
Group A2 so far
02/06: Spain 1-1 Portugal
02/06: Czech Republic 2-1 Switzerland
05/06: Portugal 4-0 Switzerland
05/06: Czech Republic 2-2 Spain
Expert prediction
Daniel Thacker, match reporter: Victory would be opportune for both sides: Spain have begun their UEFA Nations League campaign with a pair of draws, while the Swiss have suffered two defeats. If recent history is anything to go by, this one will be tight: Spain have prevailed narrowly in two of their last three encounters – on penalties in the UEFA EURO 2020 quarter-final and 1-0 in Madrid in October 2020 – while Switzerland were denied victory when Gerard Moreno struck late to rescue a draw in Basel a month later.
The visitors have few personnel concerns despite a hard-fought 2-2 draw in Prague at the weekend while Swiss coach Murat Yakin may reshuffle his defence, although Manuel Akanji, Nico Elvedi and Ruben Vargas remain doubtful.
What the coaches say
Murat Yakin, Switzerland coach: "We've had severe weaknesses in defence lately, also due to missing players. But the team is nevertheless full of positive energy. Perhaps our intensity level is not as high as I wish it would be. Now we have home matches against Spain and Portugal and want to show what we are capable of."
Luis Enrique, Spain coach: "I liked what I saw of the vast majority of the players [that I have used in the first two matchdays. I This is a short competition and the first two results have not been what we expected, so we need to score and win this match to have a chance of being in the final tournament. However, when it comes to the line-up, even I don't know what I'm going to do; I have an idea but that idea usually changes after the last training session."
What happens after the UEFA Nations League group stage?
The four group winners in League A will advance to the knockout finals with, in principle, one appointed as hosts. The semi-finals will be played on 14 and 15 June 2023 with the final and third-place play-off to follow on 18 June.
The teams finishing fourth in the groups in League A will be relegated to League B for the 2024/25 edition.