Spain center back Gerard Pique. (Photo : Getty Images)
Tournament-favorite Spain (1-0-0, 3 points) will square off with hard-fighting Turkey (0-1-0, 0 points) on Friday, June 17 in what is considered as one of the most highly-anticipated Group D matches in the 2016 UEFA European Championship. The match will be held at the Allianz Riviera in Nice.
Spain, who is one of the teams predicted to go all the way and win the Euros this summer, won their Monday afternoon opening game against the Czech Republic, 1-0, at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse, as per BBC Sport.
They won, but did so in an unconvincing fashion as most football pundits projected that they will crush all of their opponents in the tourney.
With a star-studded cast composed of some of Europe's current top-notch footballers such as David De Gea, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Pedro, Nolito, and Alvaro Morata to name a few, head coach Vicente del Bosque's side could only come up with a single goal in the match, courtesy of Pique with only three minutes left before the full time whistle was blown.
The team will take the win, of course, but it is anticipated that they will play much better in this second round match against a tougher squad like Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Crescent Stars dropped a disappointing 0-1 game to Croatia last Sunday at the Parc des Princes in Paris for the group's other first round fixture, ESPN reported.
Head coach Fatih Terim effectively defended the Croatians as they could only come up with a single goal in the whole match, but their offense suffered as team captain Arda Turan of Barcelona and Hakan Calhanoglu of Bayer Leverkusen were successfully quieted by their opponents.
Terim tried to initiate a comeback in the second half by replacing Turan with Beijing Guoan striker Burak Yilmaz but the strategy was to no avail as the Blazers had their number that day.
Still, Turkey remains to be a dangerous opponent for Spain, especially now that del Bosque's boys seemed to be playing in less than top form.
The predicted result is a 3-0 rout for Spain.
Spain starting lineup (4-3-3 formation): De Gea; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Alba; Fabregas, Busquets, Iniesta; Silva, Morata, Nolito
Turkey starting lineup (4-1-4-1 formation): Babacan; Gonul, Topal, Balta, Erkin; Inan; Calhanoglu, Tufan, Ozyakup, Turan; Tosun
