Spain, who won the European Championship title in 2008 and 2012, suffered a shock 1-0 defeat at the hands of Georgia on home ground.
The team will face Croatia as Croatia face off against the Czech Republic next Monday for the group stage for France. They look back from the shrugged World Cup campaign, which was very tiring 2014.
They are almost scored when they are structured and attractive in their play, Thiago Alcantara’s first-half pacer effort.
But in just three minutes later, Georgia broke the deadlock as miscommunication between Jordi Alba and Sergio Ramos allowed Jambul Jigauri time to pick out Tornike Okriashvili, who slotted home at 40 minutes.
Andres Iniesta went close in the second half as Spain pushed for an equalizer but Georgia held firm to seal a momentous win. In the end, the Spaniards simply lacked the creativity to beat the world’s 137th ranked team.
But his team defended the importance of the Spanish coach Diesel Bosque’s performance.
“We should not be poorer than the outcome of today’s game,” said Dele. “We have to take on the challenge that the European champions have hoped for.
“In the first half, our players often repeated. We started collecting too many bodies.”
He also allayed injury fears for striker Alvaro Morata, who was benched with discomfort in his thigh.
“We prefer not to play him so he’s in top form for the Euro 2016 opener [against the Czech Republic],” said Del Bosque.
