Argentina Boss: Spain Slapped Us & Here's How!
Argentina Boss Jorge Sampaoli: Spain Slapped Us & Here's How!
After suffering a humiliating 6-1 loss to Spain on Tuesday, Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli admitted that his side had been "slapped" by the 2010 FIFA World Cup winners, and explained how he thinks that happened.
Click through the gallery above to see a few pictures from Argentina's 6-1 defeat to Spain at the Wanda Metropolitano.
The shock result was La Albiceleste's joint-worst in their history, and it all unravelled after half-time when La Furia Roja switched gears and scored four times in 45 minutes.
After the match, Sampaoli said that Spain's performance took him by surprise, and admitted that he and his team will need to go back to the drawing board to ensure a result like this does not happen at the World Cup in Russia.
"We have to take charge of this game, these things cannot happen to us at the World Cup," Sampaoli said, as quoted by FourFourTwo.
"Spain have slapped us, we have to keep working.
"They are atypical results that can change the coach's perspective if everything is not analysed.
"I'll have to break the match down well and decide... You have to solve the emotional issue.
"We did not expect so much force from the opponent. In the second half, Spain grabbed us by attacking very directly.
"Very quick goals came and that made the difference in the result. The result makes it clear that we need to take this game to assemble the final squad and keep working so that things do not happen (like this) in the World Cup.
"The goal was to defend ourselves more with the ball, we did not have defensive aspects to achieve balance and the solidity that we expected."
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Argentina will be in group D at Russia 2018, alongside Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria.
Do you thinking the South Americans have any realistic chance of winning the World Cup with their current poor form? Have your say in the comments section below.