Futile domination: Spain can do it all with style and grace – except find the net

If Team A attempts 954 passes during a football match and Team B tries 174 passes, you’d assume that team A dominated that match – and you’d be right. You could also assume that Team A won the match in question – and you’d be wrong. Because Team A is Spain.

Playing at home against an unspectacular Sweden team, The Red Fury bossed the game, attacked, regained possession quickly and put the Scandinavians under immense pressure. But they still couldn’t find a goal on Monday night.

Coach Luis Enrique has defended Alvaro Morata following the striker's two costly misses. Spain boss Enrique insisted that Morata had a “great game” despite having to settle for a point.

"I think Alvaro had a great game. Of course, we all want to take our chances, but other players had chances too. We are going to analyse this game in detail as we always do. We were by far the better team. The opposition tried to hang back, we completely controlled the game and tried to create as many chances as possible. We had sufficient chances to win the game. What went wrong? It's the fact we didn't take those chances. It's very clear and we all saw it."

Marcus Berg missed a major opening for Sweden too, but it would have been too harsh on the Spaniards.

Luis Enrique and his teammates do not doubt Morata, who has always delivered in a Spain shirt. He's got 19 goals in 41 games and a balance of 25 victories, 10 draws and only six defeats. Marcos Llorente, who played with Morata at Atletico, has full faith in the striker - despite the fans apparently losing patience and jeering the Juventus loanee.

"Alvaro's important to us, he knows how this team works. He hasn't been lucky in front of goal, but he will be. I don't think whistles are good. The players would like to be supported and applauded."

Spain have two more matches to play in the group – against Poland on Saturday and against Slovakia next Wednesday.