Defeat for Spain with Piqué and Pedro in the starting XI

The Spanish and Dutch national sides met on Tuesday in a friendly game in the Amsterdam Arena with five Barça players involved in Vicente del Bosque’s team. The hosts came out on top with a 2-0 win thanks to early goals from De Vrij and Klaasen in the first half. After an uninspiring first half, Spain improved in the second but were unable to find a way through the Dutch defence. Pedro Rodríguez, making his 50th appearance for the national side, and Gerard Piqué were both in the starting 11 although neither played the whole 90 minutes. Andrés Iniesta played the final quarter of an hour with Marc Bartra and Sergio Busquets not making it off the bench.

Del Bosque’s team started the match well and were the better side in the opening ten minutes. However, the game was decided in a five minute spell in the first half in which Guus Hiddink’s side scored twice. In the 11th minute a cross from the left was met by De Vrij to give the ‘oranje’ the lead. Just five minutes later Ajax winger Davey Klaasen made it 2-0 to the home side, capitalising on a loose ball in the box after a save from Spain keeper David de Gea.

Spain were left on the back foot after conceding two early goals and failed to reduce the deficit before half time despite the promising connection between debutant Juanmi and Pedro in attack. In the second half Del Bosque made several changes and the visitors dominated the game even though the Dutch remained comfortable with their 2-0 lead. Gerard Piqué could have pulled one back for Spain but Dutch keeper Vermeer made an excellent save. The introduction of Iniesta and David Silva in the final minutes gave the European Champions hope but in the end Holland held on for a 2-0 friendly victory.