Spain vs. Germany: Winners and Losers from International Friendly
To call it a damp night in Vigo would be an understatement. Rain pounded down on the Spain and Germany players as they tried to play a game of football at Celta Vigo's Balaidos Stadium on Tuesday evening.
What was billed as a match between the two most recent World Cup winners turned into a wet T-shirt competition between two make-shift sides, partly due to injuries and partly due to the experimental nature of friendlies.
After a goalless first half, the scoring drought continued until Real Madrid's Toni Kroos fired home late on for Germany.
Despite the conditions and the result, though, there were still several talking points to emerge from the meeting of two of Europe's finest footballing nations.
The following slides look at the winners and losers from the Germans' narrow win.
Winner: Toni Kroos
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In a game of little quality considering the calibre of the two nations and their footballing pedigree, the game was decided by one thump of Toni Kroos' boot.
In truth, the Real Madrid midfielder didn't have his best game. In the battle against Isco, in which he had support from Sami Khedira, the Spaniard arguably came out on top.
Until the 89th minute, anyway.
With a goalless draw looking inevitable, the former Bayern Munich man tried his luck from outside the area and found his target.
He proved important for his country here, and with Luka Modric's injury, Real Madrid are going to need him in the run-up to the new year.
Loser: Pep Guardiola
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After losing Philipp Lahm earlier in the day to an ankle injury during Bayern Munich training, per Sport, Pep Guardiola couldn't have been happy to see Thomas Muller leave the pitch injured in the first half.
In the 22nd minute, Kimo Bellarabi replaced Muller due to what the German national team's Twitter account described as a "knock."
There has been nothing to suggest how long the 25-year-old will be sidelined for, if at all, but it will be an anxious wait for Guardiola.
The Catalan coach is expected to be without Lahm for three months, while Holger Badstuber, Javi Martinez, David Alaba, Thiago, Claudio Pizarro, Tom Starke and Pepe Reina are also all out.
Winners: Nolito, Camacho, Casilla
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Not that 28 is old, but in international football, you've normally made your debut by the time you hit that age.
On Tuesday night, Celta Vigo's Nolito proved that certainly isn't a rule.
In front of his home fans at Balaidos—although many seemingly gave it a miss due to the weather—Vicente del Bosque handed him a start.
He played well, too. German goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler denied him in each half, with the second stop coming from a decent free-kick.
Nolito became the 52nd player to debut under Del Bosque, and in the second half, Malaga midfielder Ignacio Camacho became the 53rd, replacing Barcelona's Sergio Busquets at the break.
In the final 15 minutes, Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla came on to become the 54th.
A wet but proud night for all three players.
Loser: Kiko Casilla
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Unfortunately, Espanyol goalkeeper Kiko Casilla could also be considered a loser on the day he made his La Roja bow.
Thrown on for the final 15 minutes, it was effectively a lose-lose situation. If he conceded, he would have been the one who had leaked the game's only goal. If he didn't, it was as you were when he came on.
It is the former for which he will be remembered, however.
He already had made one save from a long-range skidding effort when Toni Kroos fired in the winner with minutes remaining.
Could he have done better? Probably.
Was it an unacceptable mistake? Definitely not.
Losers: The Vigo Public
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You wait for years for the Spain roadshow to come to your city, and when you land La Roja against Germany, you must think your luck's in.
However, the people of Vigo may not have got what they expected on Tuesday night.
Following the World Cup in the summer, both teams have had their fair share of retirements: Xabi Alonso and Xavi have called time on their Spanish careers, while Philipp Lahm left Germany on a high.
And if the retirements weren't enough, there were plenty of injuries and rotations as well.
"We are in a period of transition and we want to continue looking to the future with optimism, but we are not entirely happy with the outcome," Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said, per Football Espana.
Del Bosque alone was without Andres Iniesta, Diego Costa, Dani Carvajal, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva. Germany, meanwhile, were denied the services of the likes of Mesut Ozil and Marco Reus.
To top it off, the rain lagged it down all night and the home side fell to a late defeat.
This wasn't the spectacle the Galicians may have been expecting when they found out the last two World Cup winners were coming to town.
As B/R contributors Stefan Bienkowski and Clark Whitney noted on Twitter, it wasn't much of a spectacle for fans at home, either.
