Spain secured a routine 3-0 victory over Serbia at the Estadio de la Cerámica, home to Villarreal, on Friday night courtesy of a brace from Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal and debutant Víctor Muñoz.
Dean Huijsen was the only current Real Madrid player in the squad but did not get any minutes off the bench, instead being rested as Pau Cubarsi and Atletico Laporte were preferred in central defence. Late on, Arsenal’s Cristhian Mosquera also came in for Cubarsi to make his first senior international
appearance in the heart of the defence.
Coach Luis de la Fuente fielded a mixed side as he experiments ahead of the FIFA World Cup in two months, giving opportunities to squad players like Álex Baena and Fermín López in the usual 4-2-3-1 shape.
Making his debut as a 63rd minute replacement for Lamine Yamal was Víctor Muñoz, who is currently at Osasuna after coming through La Fábrica. The 22-year-old winger had never previously been called up at any youth level but made the breakthrough with this international window seeing him called up for the first time.
He got his first goal for his country only eight minutes later as Barcelona’s Ferran Torres teed him up with a Guti-esque backheel to make it three for Spain.
Other former Madridistas involved included Atlético Madrid’s Marcos Llorente, starting at right-back, and AEK Athens forward Luka Jović, who came off the bench on the hour mark for Serbia.
Spain will play again on Tuesday night, taking on Egypt at the RCDE Stadium in Cornellà de Llobregat in Catalonia with more rotations and changes expected.
