Santi Denia won Olympic gold with Spain’s youngsters, and now he brings Czechia to Oviedo with no points
Spain are without Ferran Torres and Nico Williams for Saturday’s Nations League game, and the Czechia coach in the other dugout knows several of their players well.
Oct 3, 2026
Santi Denia spent 15 years coaching Spain’s youth teams. He won European titles at under-17 and under-19 level and took an under-23 side to Olympic gold in Paris in 2024. On Saturday night in Oviedo he stands in the other dugout, as Czechia’s coach, against a Spain side that has not lost in 40 games.
“My national team now is the Czech Republic,” Denia said this week. “I don’t forget Spain, but I’m one more Czech.” Asked about his chances, he kept it short: “Winning is difficult, but why not?”
The game at the Carlos Tartiere kicks off at 8:45pm local time, which is 12:15am IST on Sunday for fans in India.
Spain’s attack is short of bodies
Spain top Nations League Group A3 with six points from two games, after the 3-2 win over England at Wembley and the 4-1 win over Croatia in Seville. The squad has been thinning out all week, though.
Ferran Torres, who scored the winner in the World Cup final against Argentina in July, has gone home with pain in his left ankle and will miss both of this window’s remaining games. Nico Williams, who scored Spain’s fourth against Croatia, has withdrawn with a thigh problem. Eric Garcia left camp early with a knee complaint, and Robin Le Normand has been called back in his place.
Torres’ replacement is Carlos Espi, a 21-year-old Real Madrid striker who signed from Levante in the summer. He has two goals in his first four La Liga games, both off the bench, and he scored five in Spain Under-21s’ 13-0 win over San Marino. This is his first senior call-up.
Luis de la Fuente has already said he will change things. “The drawback of this format is that it’s difficult to recover,” he said on Friday. “Sometimes you have to rotate the squad and choose the players who are in the best form for the match.”
Spain go to Split on Tuesday for the return game with Croatia, so a heavy rotation in Oviedo makes sense. I would expect some of the younger players to get minutes, and Espi could well get his debut.
Czechia without Sulc
Czechia have no points. They lost 2-1 at home to Croatia and 2-0 at home to England, with Pavel Sulc sent off after 25 minutes against England. That red card means Sulc, the Lyon forward, is suspended for Oviedo.
Denia, who replaced Miroslav Koubek after the World Cup, named three potential debutants, all midfielders, in his first squad: Lukas Ambros of Anderlecht, Roman Macek of Sparta Prague and Matej Radosta of Teplice. Without Sulc, one of them could start.
What a draw would mean
On paper this is the easiest game Spain have left in the group. Even a weakened Spain should have too much for a side that has scored once in two games. The interesting part is Denia. Players he coached at youth level, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Pubill and Alex Baena among them, are now senior Spain internationals. He knows how they think. For Czechia, a draw would be a decent first point under him. Anything more would be a real shock, but he is right that it is not impossible.