It’s time once again to give you some precious info in our today match predictions. Now we are
going to take a look at the friendly game between Wales and Spain at the Principality Stadium in
Cardiff on October 11.
What makes these two teams very similar at this moment is the fact that they are both managed by
pretty much young coaches and two legends of football – Ryan Giggs and Luis Enrique. There was
a time when these two men used to face each other on the pitch. Now they will test their
managerial skills against each other from the bench.
Ryan GIggs is arguably the most successful figure in the history of Welsh football. The Manchester
United legend has won it all on a club level. He was appointed as a manager of the Dragons with a
very small experience, being only an interim manager of Manchester United in 2014.
Since his appointment from the Welsh FA, Giggs led the national team to 2 wins, 1 draw and 2
defeats from 5 matches played. He made his official debut in March, when his players celebrated
an impressive 6-0 win over China in a friendly match. His first official game for Wales came in the
new competition Nations League, where his team enjoyed a great 4-1 win over Ireland in Cardiff. It
was a great day for the Welsh team, which provoked some optimism among the fans. But in their
next game from the Nations League, Wales suffered a 0-2 defeat during the visit to Denmark. The
friendly against Spain is going to be a warm-up for the next game in the Nations League – once
again versus Ireland, but this time in Dublin.
Luis Enrique is the man who was appointed as a manager of Spain after a very troubling World
Cup. As you know, Julen Lopetegui was sacked just one day before the World Cup in Russia,
being replaced by the caretaker Fernando Hierro. As it was expected, Spain did not perform well in
the competition and lost against the host Russia at the 1/8-finals.
Luis Enrique started his tenure as a manager of Spain in an impressive way. The former coach of
Barcelona started with two wins in the Nations League against two very strong opponents –
England and Croatia.
On September 8 La Roja beat England with 2-1 at the Wembley, thanks to goals from Saul and
Rodrigo. But the most impressive night came just three days later, when Spain crushed the World
Cup finalist Croatia with 6-0 in Elche. It was truly a magical performance by La Roja. Saul, Marco
Asensio, Rodrigo, Sergio Ramos and Isco scored for the hosts, while Croatia’s Lovre Kalinic
scored himself an own goal. If there were some critics to the decision of the Spanish FA to appoint
Luis Enrique as a manager, these critics were all silenced after such a spectacle against a team
like Croatia.
But let’s see some news before the game between Wales and Spain in Cardiff in our today match
predictions.
The great news for Wales is the fact that the team’s captain Gareth Bale is once again fit to play.
The Real Madrid star was troubled by a groin strain, but he shaked it off and now he could feature
against Spain and Ireland. Bale was not in Real Madrid’s squad for the Champions League game
against CSKA Moscow, which Los Blancos surprisingly lost. He was on the pitch during Deportivo
Alaves during the weekend, although he didn’t play 90 minutes. He was replaced by the youngster
Vinicius Jr. 10 minutes before the end.
Except Bale, some other well known names appear in Ryan Giggs’ squad to face Spain. These are
Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey, Tottenham’s Ben Davies, Stoke City’s Joe Allen and Chelsea’s Ethan
Ampadu.
Meanwhile Luis Enrique names a 23-man squad for the friendly game against Wales and the
Nations League clash against England.

The big news once again is the fact that Barcelona’s defender Jordi Alba is not called by Enrique.
These two have a breakdown in their relationship, which is the reason why Enrique refuses to call
Alba. At this position, he prefers to call Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso and Valencia’s Gaya.
For a first in his career, Wolverhampton’s Jonny Otto is called for the national team. Otto is playing
for the Wolves on loan from Atletico Madrid. Now he recieves Luis Enrique’s trust for the next two
matches.
Another notable return in the squad is for Borussia Dortmund’s striker Paco Alcacer. Loaned from
Barcelona, Alcacer already scored some goals for Dortmund, showing to Enrique that he’s
currently in a good shape. If everything goes well, Alcacer could revive his stalled career in the
German Bundesliga.
Spain are favourites against Wales, of course. Even if they are playing away from home. La Roja
started in an impressive way under Luis Enrique’s management. It seems that the former
Barcelona coach successfully managed to calm down the players after the problems they faced
during the World Cup and the shocking sacking of Julen Lopetegui. But the same thing could be
said about Ryan Giggs as well. The United legend is using well his charisma in Wales’
atmosphere. For now it seems that the players trust him and they are ready to fight for him.
These are our today match predictions for the friendly game between Wales and Spain in the
Welsh capital Cardiff. We expect to see a good game, because both teams have some really
capable players in their squads. They are more impressive in Spain’s squad, of course, but this
Wales team shall not be underrestimated. Although they lost their last game against Denmark,
against Ireland they showed their strenght and scored four goals. It’s also going to be curious to
see this managerial clash between two young and talented coaches – Ryan Giggs and Luis
Enrique. This is just a friendly game, of course, so we shall not see too much pressure between
these two sides.