Fabregas bemoans pitch in Gdansk

Spain’s Cesc Fabregas hit out at the pitch in Gdansk after the defending European champions were held to a 1-1 draw by Italy in Ireland’s Group C last evening.

The Barcelona midfielder grabbed the equaliser for Vicente Del Bosque’s men shortly after Antonio Di Natale had put the Azzurri ahead after 61 minutes.

Spain had late chances to win it, most notably through Fernando Torres, but Italy held on for a deserved point in the Group C opener.

Fabregas, preferred to Torres in the starting line-up in a 6-4-0 formation, felt the slow pitch at the Arena Gdansk stopped Spain playing their high-tempo passing game.

He said: “It is lamentable that we have to play on a pitch like this. It has been a difficult match, the most difficult one we have in the group. After going behind it is not a bad result. We’re still dependent on ourselves. We showed character and played well.”

Del Bosque was not displeased with his side’s performance. He said: “We worked hard and put in a good effort. We are relatively satisfied with the result.”

On the inclusion of Fabregas, the former Real Madrid boss insisted he had made the right call.

“We wanted to have superiority in the midfield so that we could have possession and arrive higher up the pitch. David Silva, Cesc and Andres Iniesta arrived very well from the second line of attack and I think they did very well in a lot of moments.

“The plan didn’t go badly, Cesc did very well in this position. When Fernando Torres came on, the match was much more open. We had more chances to score, but so did they. Time will tell if this is a good point or not.”

Spain at times looked uncharacteristically slack in possession, particularly in the first half, but Del Bosque was quick to give credit to Italy’s pressing game.

“We knew Italy were going to press us high and they wanted to take the initiative. I had already warned that they are very dangerous and that has been the case,” he added.