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Spain held by Egypt in World Cup warm-up marred by 'intolerable' chants / Photo: Lluis GENE - AFP
Spain held by Egypt in World Cup warm-up marred by 'intolerable' chants
Spain were held 0-0 by Egypt in Barcelona on Tuesday in a pre-World Cup friendly as their momentum heading into the tournament stalled.
The hosts were wasteful in attack in their penultimate friendly on home turf before they face Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H in North America.
The fixture was overshadowed by chants from the Spanish crowd directed at Egypt's players with the public announcement system at the RCDE Stadium appealing to fans to refrain from making offensive comments.
"It's intolerable," Spain coach Luis de la Fuente told reporters as soon as he sat down in the press room.
"Violent people use football to carve out a space for themselves.
"They must be removed from society, identified, and kept as far away as possible," the 64-year-old added.
Spain are reportedly set to play Iraq on June 4 before playing Peru in Mexico four days later in their final games before the competition.
The game in Catalonia was moved from Qatar due to the war in the Middle East and it was played out in a hostile environment as the home fans whistled the Egyptian national anthem.
Veteran coach De la Fuente made 10 changes from Friday's 3-0 friendly win over Serbia with Barcelona winger Lamine Yamal the only player to keep his place.
Egypt were without their talisman in Mohamed Salah with the Liverpool attacker sidelined since suffering a muscle problem against Galatasaray on March 18.
The English club are hopeful he could return in this weekend's FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City.
The hosts had the best of the early chances with Ferran Torres unlucky not to score after 20 minutes.
Just before the half-hour mark, against the run of play Egypt's Manchester City attacker Omar Marmoush hit the post, underlining his side's potential at the World Cup when they face Belgium, Iran and New Zealand in Group G.
The hosts took control again after the break with Pedri denied after 57 minutes and Cristhian Mosquera's header edged wide 13 minutes later.
With six minutes to go, Egypt were reduced to 10 men with defensive midfielder Hamdy Fathy being shown a second yellow card.
Two minutes later, De la Fuente's side wasted another chance with left-back Alejandro Grimaldo hitting the crossbar in their final chance to break the deadlock.
G.Aguilar--HdM
