Doha: Spanish football is loved around the world for its drama, goals and passion, and on the first day of ‘The Liga de Futbol Professional – Aspire Challenge’, the young Spanish players demonstrated all of these qualities in spades.
With four matches played in total yesterday, local football fans that attended the games at the Aspire Academy were treated to energetic performances from some of Spain’s best young players.
Though this may be a youth competition, the technical standards on show during the first day were an impressive reminder of why Spain’s football youth system is so well regarded worldwide.
On a warm, sunny day in Doha, the tournament began with a dramatic and lively match between Spanish sides Atlético Madrid and Espanyol. Current leaders of the senior La Liga division in Spain, Atlético were the star performers during this opening fixture and played with a clinical, offensive style that suggested they possess the high quality needed to win this competition.
Scoring the opening goal of the competition was Atlético striker Juan Aguero who dispossessed the Espanyol defence before firing a confident strike in the game’s 11th minute. 25 minutes later and Aguero had already scored his second of the tournament with a low and hard strike past Espanyol keeper Adrian Lopez.
With the score now 2-0, Atlético made the mistake of letting their foot off the gas and briefly let their opposition back into the game. On 41 minutes, a poor defensive mistake from Madrid saw Espanyol Barcelona pull one goal back. The Espanyol fightback was short-lived however and just four minutes later Atlético defender Aitor Rodriguez ensured victory for his side with a powerful header to make the final result 3-1.
Next up yesterday was a closely-fought match between local Qatari players from the Aspire Academy and Spanish side UD Almeria.
Both teams looking to qualify from Group B, the fixture was a tense and defensive affair that did not yield a single goal until late into the second half.
Breaking the deadlock on 51 minutes, the first goal came when a brilliant through-ball from Spanish midfielder Antonio Crespo found Almeria teammate Javier Munoz inside the Aspire Academy box.
Firing on the volley, Munoz was first denied by Aspire keeper Marwan El Din but then struck on the rebound to make the score 1-0. With the match now into its closing stages, both sides began playing more attacking football and just minutes later the youthful Qataris were able to equalise. Scoring the leveller in the game’s final minutes, Aspire Academy player Rashid Brashdi found the ball on the edge of the Almeria box before rifling a powerful strike into the top right corner. The stunning goal rounded off an impressive performance from the Aspire Academy and made the final result 1-1.
After such a defensive match, the third game of the day, played between Valencia and Sevilla, was a far free-flowing affair.
Sevilla FC went down fighting 2-1 to Valencia.
The Peninsula
