Spain 0-0 Egypt: 10-men Egypt keeps the tie as Grimaldo & Marmoush hit the post

Spain ended their March international break with a disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Egypt, who finished the friendly with 10 men.

Match Report

Having swept aside Serbia 3-0 on Friday, Luis de la Fuente was left frustrated by the follow-up performance four days later after a profligate showing from the hosts at Espanyol's RCDE Stadium.

The European champions had the first sight at goal with 15 minutes on the clock, but Dani Olmo fired straight at Mostafa Shobeir, before Mohanad Lasheen's last-ditch block denied Ferran Torres soon after.

However, it was Egypt who almost took the lead on the half-hour mark when Omar Marmoush let fly from range, only for the inside of David Raya's post to fortuitously spare Spain's blushes.

Fermin Lopez should then have sent Spain ahead early into the second half, but his mazy run culminated in a fine save from Shobeir after the Barcelona man linked up with fellow half-time substitute Victor Munoz.

Pedri and Torres passed up further chances shortly after Lopez's effort, while Borja Iglesias headed wide when found by Alejandro Grimaldo's delightful delivery from the left-hand side.

Iglesias followed up that header with a cute dink over Shobeir that fell the wrong side of the crossbar, and then the Spain striker was hacked down by Hamdi Fathy to receive his second yellow card and marching orders with six minutes remaining.

Grimaldo almost capitalised on the one-man advantage, but his free-kick was expertly parried onto the crossbar by Shobeir as the hosts failed to turn their dominance into victory.

Data Debrief: Profligate Spain

Spain had more than six times as many shots as Egypt (26 to 4), as the hosts accumulated a massive 2.35 expected goals (xG) to their visitors' 0.13.

But the Euro 2024 winners could find no way past the excellent Shobeir, who made six saves and should take much of the acclaim for a resilient defensive performance.

And this will go down as a memorable result for Egypt, given Spain had won 12 of their previous 16 matches against African teams in all competitions (D2 L2) before this draw.

Match Events

0' The match is about to start!

3' Egypt gets the ball from La Roja's mistake but the effort from distance is saved

13' Dani Olmo takes a shot which is well saved by the goalkeeper

29' Marmoush shots from the edge of the box, but his effort comes back off the post

39' Yamal is brought down by the defender, but the ref signals no foul

45' Ashour goes for goal but he blazes his shot well over the top

52' Fermin waves past the defenders and takes a shot, but his effort goes just wide

54' Pedri has a sight of goal and shoots goalwards, but the keeper makes a save

61' Ferran Torres and Raya are replaced by Borja Iglesias and Joan Garcia

70' Mosquera produces a fine header which goes just a few inches over the bar

74' Rodri goes for goal, but slices it wide of the target

79' Iglesias fires a wonderful strike, but it goes over the bar by a whisker

84' Red Card! Fathy is shown a second yellow card for his foul

85' Grimaldo produces a decent strike but his effort crashes against the bar

Line-ups

Spain XI: Grimaldo, David Raya, Olmo, Soler, Ferran Torres, Fornals, Porro, Ander Barrenetxea, Cristhian Mosquera, Dean Huijsen, Yamal

Subs: Laporte, Álex Remiro, Iglesias, Llorente, Unai Simón, Cucurella, Oyarzabal, Rodri, Álex Baena, Yeremy, Pedri, Joan García, Fermín López, Víctor Muñoz, Cubarsi

Egypt XI: Yasser Ibrahim, Zizo, Mohamed Hany, Hamdy Fathy, Omar Marmoush, Ahmed Fatouh, Mohanad Lasheen, Islam Issa, Emam Ashour, Oufa Shobeir, Marwan Ateya

Subs: El Mahdi Soliman, Mohamed El Shenawy, Ramy Rabia, Trezeguet, Mostafa Mohamed, Khaled Sobhi, Haissem Hassan, Nasser Mansy, Mahmoud Saber, Ibrahim Adel, Mohamed Abdelmonem, Hossam Abdelmaguid, Ahmed Kouka, Tarek Alaa, Mohamed Alaa