Any time a team suffers an elimination as calamitous as Spain’s, there are usually all manner of recriminations and searching questions about the fundamental identity of the football nation and their philosophy, but there was no real need for it here. The reasons are as obvious as the frankly stupid handball committed by Gerard Pique to give away the penalty for Russia’s only goal.
In the Luzhniki Stadium press room, Fernando Hierro balefully spoke for a while about what went wrong for Spain on this glorious day for the hosts, but it could have been summed up much more easily. It really comes down to the decision of the man that should have been in his place: Julen Lopetegui.
Spain had long been building up to be the best side at this World Cup, and that was largely down to Lopetegui’s nuanced and steady guidance of a truly gifted group of players over two years, only for his abrupt negotiations with Real Madrid – on the very eve of the tournament – to scuttle everything.