No points for Petr’s spectacular performance

The Czechs managed to maintain a goalless draw until the 87th minute, which is when Piqué finally scored the sole goal of the game. “It’s a great shame we didn’t manage to keep it up. We’d gone into this knowing we had to defend flawlessly and actually did so for a long time. In the end we could even have equalised, but a little more luck was needed,” said Petr.

Still, he did not lament over the loss. He knew the team had done all that was in their strengths. “We were playing to the very limit of our abilities. The Spaniards would expose us to heavy pressure every now and again and we had to really strain ourselves to ward them off. We weren’t that far from finishing off with a draw. But Spain is a team which is supported by distinctive individuals and enormous quality. This is what decided the outcome in the end,” added Petr.

He believes the team’s performance against Spain will boost its confidence for the upcoming games. “We’ve shown to ourselves that we’re able to put up a good fight even against opponents as strong as Spain, and that we can surely give them a hard time. So now we’re going into the Croatia game with healthy self-confidence."