Exclusive: The crystallization of the art of the Spanish hero Unai Simon Henrique

Sohu Sports special correspondent Ramiro reported

The Basques made fatal mistakes against Croatia, but with Enrique's support he became a hero in the penalty shootout against Switzerland.

Unai Simon is the representative of Spain's 1/4 final victory, and it is also the face of Spain coach Enrique's victory. Enrique was criticized for not recruiting even a single Real Madrid player at the start of the European Championship, but now that Spain has reached the semi-finals, the team is enjoying the moment of celebration. Although Enrique's employment has previously been criticized by the media, he decided to give all the trust to these players. The most recent hero of "Made in Henrique" is Unai Simon, a magical goalkeeper in Spain.

A source close to Spain told Sohu after Bilbao would become a hero in the penalty shootout against Switzerland: "Unai Simon is a very hard-working, kind, hard-working, brainy man who deserves everything he has experienced so far. Spain's reached the semi-finals of the European Championship, which is not a goal that can be completed casually, a source from the Spanish Football Association told Sohu: "This is the minimum goal enrique asked for: to reach the top 4. "Spain finally completed this minimum goal of Enrique, but the team did not play a great game, the game had to be decided by penalties, and in the end, Unai Simon's masterful performance, saving two penalties, became the key to the Spanish team's promotion.

Unai Simon said: "When I was young, in the youth stage, they all said I couldn't save a single penalty. "The Basque goalkeeper is really fighting not only the poor penalty saves he had as a child, but also the poor record of his career. In La Liga last season, Unai Simon did not save any of the seven penalties encountered. In addition, Unai Simon also had to fight Spain's unlucky penalty experience, which had conceded five consecutive penalties before the penalty shootout against Switzerland.

A source close to the Spanish dressing room revealed: "After two penalties were not scored in this cup, penalties became a difficult topic. We didn't want to get our players obsessed with penalties, so Instead of ordering players to practice penalties, Enrique asked if they were really willing to practice penalties. Everyone said yes. ”

The same source told Sohu: "In addition to practicing penalties, one of Enrique's biggest goals is to try to make Unai Simon feel his trust, so Enrique publicly spoke in support of Unai Simon, especially after the match against Croatia, when Unai Simon made a major mistake in the game and then became the focus of the game." ”

Several different sources have told sohu his story, and Unai Simon was the first to criticize himself, the most strict person to himself, and he returned to the base after making a fatal mistake against Croatia, constantly going through the process of this mistake at least 10 times, just to avoid making such a mistake in the future. Sources at the Spanish team's training base told Sohu: "He has been torturing himself. But Enrique's support ultimately made Unai Simon a hero against Switzerland.

Now Spain has met Italy in the semi-finals, which is an old acquaintance of Spain in the European Championship. Especially in Euro 2008, when Spain defeated Italy on penalties, Xiaofa became the finisher of the Blues, and at the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, the great performance of the Xavi generation in the final allowed the team to defeat Italy and finally win the cup.