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Spain v Northern Ireland
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Kick Off: Saturday 8th June at 20:30
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Competition: International Friendly
Spain will conclude their preparations for this summer’s Euro 2024 tournament in sunny Mallorca on Saturday evening, where La Roja should be too hot to handle for friendly opponents Northern Ireland at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix.
Luis de la Fuente’s Spain aren’t listed among the outright favourites for glory ahead of the European Championships, however, the dark horses will be keen to build as much momentum and confidence as possible before embarking on their latest quest for honours in Germany.
Northern Ireland – who will be playing their first match since beating Scotland in March – could see their end-of-season Spanish sojourn as a team-building exercise as much as anything else and it will be interesting to see if they can shake off holiday mode to compete.
Andy’s Bet Club has you covered for this week’s footballing action, with our keen eye on the best opportunities for free bets, Euros 2024 betting tips, bet builder stats, and plenty more expert football betting tips across Europe’s best fixtures, including our brand-new both teams to score tips.
We have also tracked all the best bet builder bookmakers and odds boosts, to ensure our readers get the best bang for their buck.
Spain v Northern Ireland Best Bets
Unsurprisingly, Spain have been priced as short as 1/10 to beat an inferior Northern Irish outfit on Saturday evening, however, you can massage the odds in your favour with a dip into the handicap markets, where La Roja catch the eye at 1.30 in the -1.0 goal stakes.
Having deployed a weakened team against Andorra in midweek, Spain Head Coach Luis de la Fuente will likely roll out his big guns on Saturday to build chemistry ahead of the Euros and a slick Spanish performance could follow as a result.
La Roja covered a -1.0 goal handicap in four of their last six matches on home soil and they could repeat that trick again an unmotivated Northern Ireland side that shipped ten goals in four away games during their recent failed qualification campaign.
In a similar vein, backing Spain to win to nil could be another angle to consider at an attractive price of 1.57. Northern Ireland failed to register in six of their last 11 fixtures, while La Roja secured a clean sheet in four of their last six fixtures at home.
With Spain likely to dominate around 70% of the possession, bettors should expect one-way traffic at the Estadi Mallorca Son Moix and a victory and clean sheet combination would be the perfect way for the hosts to sign off before the Euros.
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⚔️ Spain v Northern Ireland Head-to-Head
At the start of the century, Spain and Northern Ireland were familiar foes, colliding five times in as many years between 2002 and 2007, though their encounter in a European Championship qualifier in November ’07 was their most recent head-to-head.
On that occasion, a solitary goal from former Spain and Barcelona legend Xavi was enough to split the sides and unsurprisingly, La Roja have had the upper hand in previous meetings with Northern Ireland in general, winning five of the last seven tussles between the nations overall since 1993.
Northern Ireland have enjoyed success over Spain twice before however, and both victories remain etched in the country’s footballing folklore. In 2006, a stunning hattrick from David Healy helped Norn Iron to a shock 3-2 Euros qualification win over a Spanish side that listed Iker Casillas, Carles Puyol, Xabi Alonso, Xabi, Fernando Torres, Raul and David Villa among their number.
Before that, a famous strike from Gerry Armstrong earned the Northern Irish underdogs a 1982 World Cup Group Stage triumph over tournament hosts Spain.
📊 Spain Form and Stats
Spain Head Coach Luis de la Fuente chose to field a second-string XI in Thursday’s friendly triumph over Andorra in Badajoz and after some early frustration, La Roja let rip in the second half and eventually earned a 5-0 win over their neighbours, thanks in large to a hattrick from substitute Mikel Oyarzabal.
Remarkably, that was Spain’s first victory of 2024 and though they have only played three matches since January 1st, their return to winning ways was a welcome one following a 1-0 loss to Colombia and a 3-3 draw with Brazil in a pair of March friendly fixtures.
Spain’s results were close to note-perfect in 2023 under de la Fuente’s instruction however, and they managed to win nine of their ten assignments last year, including seven of their eight European Championship qualifiers en route to comfortably topping Group A ahead of Scotland.
De la Fuente, who has a 69% win rate since taking the Spanish reins, also led his compatriots to success in the Nations League last June when La Roja pipped Croatia to the trophy in the final on penalty kicks.
De La Fuente has been loyal to Spanish tactical traditions since taking over and La Roja were typically dominant in terms of possession during their successful Euro 2024 qualification campaign, controlling an insane 73.1% of the ball on average across their eight Group A matches.
Spain also averaged a healthy 3.125 goals per game during their qualification run and only Portugal (36) and France (29) were more prolific. La Fuente’s youthful squad have also been sharing the workaround and 12 different scorers chipped in and contributed to La Roja’s 25-goal haul in the same qualifiers, with Alvaro Morata and Joselu making the biggest individual impacts (four goals each).
At the opposite end, Spain conceded just five times across eight qualifiers and allowed their opponents to muster only 15 shots on target combined against them in the same games, with their domination of the ball allowing them to keep their rivals at arm’s length.
Unsurprisingly, Spain’s ability to keep the ball on a string drew plenty of frustrated tackles during their near-perfect Group A qualification run. In seven of their eight qualifiers, the Spaniards drew at least two yellow cards from their opponents.
📊 Northern Ireland Form and Stats
Michael O’Neill returned for a second stint as Northern Ireland’s manager in December 2022, but so far at least, the 54-year-old has been unable to rekindle his previous magic and Norn Iron will watch Euro 2024 from a distance this summer.
In his first spell at the helm, O’Neill led his homeland to a first-ever European Championships qualification in 2016 during a golden era for the Green and White Army, though Northern Ireland never really threatened to recapture former glories in their last campaign.
Despite being drawn in a relatively kind group (Group H), Northern Ireland were beaten seven times in ten qualifiers, with two of their three wins secured against whipping boys San Marino. Scoring goals proved a major issue for O’Neill’s charges who failed to notch in 60% of their ten games in the section.
Manufacturing chances could prove difficult again for Northern Ireland when they tackle Spain on Saturday evening. 34-year-old free agent Josh Magennis is the leading scorer in their current squad with 11 goals, though veteran centre-half Jonny Evans is the next in line with six, while Bolton’s Dion Charles is the next-best prolific performer with a paltry three goals in 22 international appearances.
Northern Ireland did manage to finish their futile qualification campaign on a high note with a 2-0 win over Denmark in Belfast, however, that triumph was the very definition of smash and grab after the hosts posted a 21% possession figure and scored from their only two efforts on target.
Still, they seemed to carry confidence from that success into the March international break when they drew 1-1 in Romania before battling their way to a surprise 1-0 friendly triumph over a full-strength Scotland at Hampden Park.
That string of results means Northern Ireland will head to Spain armed with a three-match unbeaten surge, however, with a squad constructed with players from England’s lower leagues, their chances of leaving Mallorca with that record intact seem slim.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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