Spain duo star in Croatia win and show exactly why Chelsea were interested in them

While Chelsea did not have any representatives at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on the night, there were some ex-Blues on the pitch. Real Madrid star Marc Cucurella, who left Stamford Bridge for the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer, started for Spain.

Mateo Kovacic and Mario Pasalic also picked up some minutes but could not prevent Croatia from losing against the world champions.

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Martin Zubimendi and Fabian Ruiz shine in Spain vs Croatia after Chelsea interest

Arsenal’s Martin Zubimendi and Paris Saint-Germain’s Fabian Ruiz lined up alongside Cucurella for Spain, and both midfielders put in good displays. If any Chelsea scouts were watching, they would have been impressed.

During the summer transfer window, Chelsea considered making a move for Zubimendi in their search for a replacement for Enzo Fernandez, but Arsenal were unwilling to sell the 27-year-old. It is thought that the Blues also had Ruiz on their radar.

In August, it was claimed that Chelsea were making checks on Ruiz, but nothing materialised in the end. It is a shame, as Ruiz and Zubimendi are superb midfield players and showed that against Croatia.

As you would expect being Spanish midfielders, Zubimendi and Ruiz were both excellent on the ball. According to Sofascore, the former misplaced just one pass all night, completing 65 out of 66 to give himself a pass success rate of 98%.

Ruiz’s passing was almost as accurate. The PSG star completed 40 out of 44 passes, meaning that he had a pass success rate of 91%.

Chelsea have lacked control in the engine room this season, which is hardly a surprise given that Xabi Alonso has been forced to use right-backs there. If they had Zubimendi or Ruiz, it would have been a completely different story.

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