Real Madrid players were present on both sides of the Denmark vs Spain match in the third matchday of WEURO 2025 qualifiers. Oihane and Athenea started for Spain while Sofie Svava started for Denmark. Maite and Bruun got on later on in the game, while Teresa, Misa and Møller spent the entirety of the game on the bench. Olga Carmona was initially called up for Spain but got replaced by Leila Ouahabi for an injury before the squad’s trip to Denmark.
Even though Spain had numbers in their favor in almost every statistic, the performance wasn’t as dominant, and Denmark managed to control Spain’s areas of danger. In fact, neither of the two goals came from an open play and more often than not, Spaniards were left with no other choice but to just shoot from long range and hope from the best.
Østergaard, the Danish goalkeeper, was giving the ball away often during the first half during the panic she’d experience whenever Spaniards would go on to press. The goalkeeper would be forced to kick out the ball and sometime, trying to do so, the ball would end up not far away from the penalty area and La Roja would receive a served chance.
In Spain’s first goal, Jenni received a corner from Alexia and her header bounced off the ground and through Østergaard’s legs.
The second goal came from a penalty that was awarded to Salma Paralluelo which Mariona took upon herself to score.
Aside from Denmark’s effort to neutralize Spain’s danger, the Spaniards didn’t help themselves either by having a series of bad first touches while receiving long balls which would mainly come from Putellas. The score might’ve been much higher if La Roja had a better day receiving the crosses.
Speaking of long balls, on the other side, Pernille Harder was the main threat to Cata Coll and the Spain’s goal, who rarely made mistakes in her passes. At the beginning of the encounter, Real Madrid’s Sofie Svava was the one receiving the captain’s cross inside the box, but trying to get it resulted in a clash with the goalkeeper. Svava also had her hands full with her clubmate Oihane with whom she clashed quite a few times during the match and the duel on its own was a fun aspect of the game. The Danish left back played a more offensive role, like she usually does with the national team, than she does in the white club. Denmark’s 4-4-2 formation allowed her to play as a LM while Veje was left in charge of the LB position, going against Athenea and doing a good job in neutralizing her effect.
Sofie Svava was subbed off at 60’ for Sara Holmgaard and Athenea got off in 65’ for Manchester United’s Lucía García, while Maite Oroz played the last 11 minutes and Signe Bruun 5 minutes of the match.