Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas equalled the record of most international caps for a European player on Sunday as two-time defending European champions Spain drew 0-0 against Romania in Cluj.
CLUJ-NAPOCA, Romania: Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas
equalled the record of most international caps for a European player on
Sunday (Mar 27) as two-time defending European champions Spain drew 0-0
against Romania in Cluj.
Casillas, who made his national team debut in June 2000, returned
after sitting out Thursday's 1-1 draw in Italy to move level with former
Latvia midfielder Vitalijs Astafjevs on 166 appearances.
Romania meanwhile took to the field for the warm-up wearing
training tops featuring maths problems, rather than shirt numbers, as
part of an initiative aimed at combating the country's poor school
dropout rate.
Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto was handed his Spain
debut as Vicente del Bosque made wholesale changes to the side that
played in Udine three days ago, with their opening game at Euro 2016
just over two months away.
Gerard Pique and Pedro Rodriguez tested Romania keeper
Ciprian Tatarusanu early on, while Casillas - still well shy of Egyptian
Ahmed Hassan's all-time record of 184 international caps - was twice
forced to turn away efforts from Nicolae Stanciu.
Pique fired straight at Tatarusanu just after half-time
after a corner found the Barcelona defender unmarked beyond the far
post, but Spain found a Romanian defence that conceded just twice in 10
qualifying matches difficult to break down.
Romania, who qualified for the finals in France as
runners-up in Group F, stretched their unbeaten run to 16 matches - a
sequence which includes five goalless draws - with Spain now turning
their focus towards a third straight European crown.
- AFP/de
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