EURO SPY : Prompting attacks from the deep

EDITED BY RUPERT METCALF

MAN ON

THE SPOT

Luis Enrique

(Spain)

If any player has more reason than most to remember the last time Spain were beaten, it is Luis Enrique. He received a vicious elbow in the face and a broken nose from Mauro Tassotti that should have earned his side a penalty in the World Cup quarter-final against Italy two years ago.

The referee missed it - although Fifa, with the benefit of television, did not and handed the culprit a nine-match suspension - but that was of little consolation to either the battered Luis Enrique or Spain, whose chance of reaching the last four was gone.

Aged 26, he occupied the left wing-back position against the Bulgarians in Spain's first match in Group B, when he and Fernando Hierro formed the source of most of their attacks in a generally underwhelming performance. The strikers, Julen Guerrero and Juan Antonio Pizzi, were largely anonymous before being substituted and sent off respectively so, for all Spain's possession, what threat they carried was usually down Luis Enrique's flank. An intelligent player, he soon worked out that trying to take on the impressive Bulgarian right-back, Radostin Kishishev, would get him nowhere, and instead probed away with passes and one-twos.

Rejected by Barcelona as a youngster after a five-day trial, he joined his local team, Sporting Gijon,and then, in 1991, moved to Real Madrid. He was one of the outstanding players when Spain won the Olympic gold medal the following year.

He is also versatile, having played as a winger and a wingback on both flanks for his country and as a central midfielder for Real. It is this quality which has impressed the new Barcelona coach, Bobby Robson, who has persuaded the Catalan club to swallow its pride and spend a small fortune on a player they could have had for free.

Guy Hodgson

EURO 96

RIP-OFFS

No 6: A can of Coca-Cola (major Euro 96 sponsors) cost pounds 1 at St James' Park on Thursday.

Have you come across any monster rip-offs? If so, fax details to Euro- spy on 0171 293 2894.

Bulgarians on the move yet again

Bulgaria continued to confuse their followers yesterday when they announced another change of itinerary and hotel the day after after beating Romania at St James' Park.

Instead of checking into the Redwood Hall Hotel, south of Durham, as they said they had planned, Bulgaria decided to move further north and settle at the Holiday Inn, north of Newcastle - where the players' wives and girlfriends had been staying.

They had previously been staying at Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast but, after complaining that it was too quiet and remote, switched to a hotel at Stockton, near Middlesbrough, on Wednesday.

"I am told this move to the Holiday Inn is definite - for now," said a local Euro 96 spokesman, "but it would be advisable to check."

Globetrotter rescued by Geordies

Double disaster awaited "superfan" Constantin Ciuka at the end of his 4,000km walk from Romania to watch Euro 96.

After watching his heroes lose 1-0 to France at St James' Park on Monday, Ciuka suffered another blow when he found his tent and other gear had been stolen from his campsite. However, Ciuka, who calls himself "The Globetrotter" and is well known in Romania for walking to major sports events, was supplied with replacement equipment by a local firm.

"Newcastle is a beautiful place and I've had a wonderful time despite what happened to me," he said. "The only thing that depressed me was France beating Romania. I like to walk everywhere I can. I wish I could have swum the English Channel, but it was not possible."

FOOTBALL: THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE

"Problema v tom, shtobi zagnat evo v vorota, Andrei..."