Spain 1 Czech Republic 0 Euro 2016: Gerard Pique saves La Roja at the death to get defending champions off to winning start
Barcelona defender won it at the end to save Arsenal target Alvaro Morata's blushes who missed a whole host of chances
HAD this been a boxing fight, it would have been stopped long before Gerard Pique finally clinched victory for Spain.
More possession, more shots, more corners, more passes, more chances, more pressure, more everything.
But unlike Spain teams of the past — the one that won back-to-back European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and a World Cup in 2010 — for long periods there seemed no one capable of supplying the knockout punch.
It got so bad that coach Vicente del Bosque had to throw on 35-year-old Aritz Aduriz up front for the final 28 minutes.
In the end it needed a defender to show them all how it is done with just three minutes left.
Andres Iniesta — who was brilliant — supplied the cross from the left and his Barcelona team-mate Pique headed past Petr Cech.
Midfielder Iniesta got the official man-of-the-match award. There is no doubt the playmaker, 32, loves the responsibility of being one of the team’s elder statesmen.
He said: “I always enjoy the responsibility for my game and helping my team.
“It’s all about a collective game and we must give the best of ourselves. But having responsibility isn’t something I’ve ever shirked.
“We’re happy to get off to a good start and, hopefully, we can go on for as long as possible.”
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Gone are the days when Spain had the likes of David Villa, Xavi, Fernando Torres and Carles Puyol among their ranks.
Alvaro Morata and Nolito are among the new breed and you do wonder whether they can be anywhere near as clinical.
Yet Iniesta does not think anything should be read into that yet — as the Czech Republic were content to frustrate the Spaniards.
He said: “There is not a single way to break down these teams.
“You must stay calm, patient and keep going forward until you achieve what you want.
“They had some chances but they had a lot of running without the ball for 90 minutes — it’s very hard for any team to keep that up. It was a question of patience.”
But the Spanish have a strong defence. They have now not conceded a goal in 600 minutes of competitive football.
And the reigning European champs have not lost a match at a Euro tournament for 12 years. Coach Del Bosque said: “We totally dominated.
“People talk about our style of play — well, we’ve not done too badly playing that way, have we?”
Had it not been for Cech, the Czechs would have been well beaten. First, he made a save from Morata before tipping wide another shot from the striker.
The Arsenal keeper did superbly to narrow the angle and save from David Silva just moments after palming away a Jordi Alba effort.
David De Gea — starting despite being accused of trying to arrange an orgy where a woman was allegedly sexually abused — was called into action on the stroke of half-time as he kept out Tomas Necid’s stinging 20-yarder.
After the break, Roman Hubnik deflected a Morata cross on to the post. But the Czechs nearly took a shock 57th-minute lead when Hubnik saw his toe-poke saved low to De Gea’s left.
Silva curled a shot wide before Aduriz sent a spectacular-looking overhead kick wide and then headed off target moments later.
Finally the goal came but it still needed De Gea to stand tall and save from a Vladimir Darida effort in stoppage-time.
Czech midfielder Tomas Rosicky groaned: “When you work so hard for the whole game and concede so late, it is painful.
“The bitterness will stay with us. But we showed everyone will have it tough against us.”