Gerry Armstrong column: Spain have disappointed and I expect so much more

Luis Enrique’s boys create bags of chances, but they are not taking them. They have already missed two penalties through two different takers — Alvaro Morata and Gerard Moreno.

I have to say they play good football, but sometimes they overplay. It’s a young team. I suppose the likes of Dani Olmo and Moreno are new to a lot of people.

Moreno has less than a dozen international caps, but it has been a big year for him. He was one of the top goalscorers in Spain — only Lionel Messi scored more than Moreno, who plays his football at Villarreal. He is predominantly left-footed and very instinctive.

The only thing missing is a little bit of experience. I love the boy Pau Torres at the back. He also plays for Villarreal and is a really good centre-back.

I suppose Spain are going about things the right way, but they are still not the finished article. There is no Iniesta, Alonso, Xavi and guys like that. And there is no David Villa up front.

For them to be a force again, they need a bit more experience. Sergio Busquets was missing at the start, but he’s now back in again — the Barcelona player is the anchorman in midfield.

Spain put themselves under pressure with their two opening results, which meant they had to win against Slovakia in their final group game. That’s when they produced their best performance, which earned them runners-up place.

Enrique is a pure football type of manager, he wants this team to play exciting, fluent football. That was typified by the goal scored by Ferran Torres against Slovakia. He was only on the pitch a matter of seconds, but he produced a wonderful little back-heel flick at the near post.

That was typical Spain and that will give them a lot of confidence going into tomorrow’s game against Croatia. I fancy the Spanish to go a bit further, but I don’t think they are good enough to win it.

Spain know they are now at the knockout stage — the business end of the tournament. If they get it wrong, they’ll be taken to the cleaners.

Portugal have relied heavily on Cristiano Ronaldo to get them through to this stage. It’s hard to believe the holders were on the verge of elimination at one point.

They now come up against a great Belgium side today that could match any team in the world.

I would suspect Belgium will have a lot of possession, but the Portuguese have players to hurt you on the break, including Diogo Jota. They also have Bruno Fernandes coming through from midfield — we’ve yet to see the best of him.

But you must take your hat off to Ronaldo. With 109 international goals, he has now equalled Ali Daei’s record, but it has to be said the Iranian didn’t play against the quality of opposition that Ronaldo has faced.

Ronaldo’s goalscoring record for Real Madrid was phenomenal — better than a goal a game — and he’s been superb for Juventus, too.

He does it consistently year in, year out, he’s a fantastic player and he’s the reason Portugal will be in action against Belgium today.

It’s the defending champions against the No.1 team in the world, it should be a cracking game. Belgium have Kevin de Bruyne pulling the strings in the middle of the park and Romelu Lukaku scoring the goals. I love the boy Yannick Carrasco on the wing.

He is one of those players, if he gets into a one-on-one situation, he’ll go past you. Carrasco is now back at Atletico Madrid after spending some time in China and he could cause the Portuguese a lot of problems today.

Sweden have been my surprise package so far.

They are a hard team to beat. When they went two up against Poland, they conceded two quick goals, but showed their character by hitting a winner late on.

They have managed to stay under the radar. They are certainly capable of taking out Ukraine on Tuesday, there is no question about that.

Finally, England haven’t been adventurous enough. They have a lot of possession in games, but there is no finished article — so far. I’m looking forward to their game against Germany, that’s a tough one to call.