There was immediately a fearlessness from Denmark, who defended aggressively and had the game’s first chance with Kasper Dolberg getting behind Alex Grimaldo before hitting a powerful strike that David Raya palmed wide.
Despite Spain seeing plenty of the ball, the approach was working as a speculative Grimaldo strike was easily gathered by Kasper Schmeichel and the left-back’s free-kick attempt sailed harmlessly off-target inside the opening quarter-hour.
Spain started to step up the pressure with Zubimendi and Alvaro Morata sending an effort wide on either side of the 20th minute, while Lamine Yamal saw his curling strike pushed away.
There was still a reminder of the threat in Lars Knudsen’s squad as Christian Eriksen’s searching pass forced Raya to bravely dive at Dolberg’s feet to deny the striker a certain goal.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg then hit a shot that Aymeric Laporte headed over his own crossbar before Yamal was finally released behind Denmark’s backline moments ahead of the break but couldn’t capitalise as he fired off-target.
Denmark remained committed to their refusal to give La Roja an inch after the restart, with Victor Nelsson frustrating Morata, but the hosts still showed plenty of intent and Fabián Ruiz came close with a strike that fizzed into the side netting.
The midfielder then slipped through a perfectly weighted pass for Morata, although Schmeichel rushed out to halt the AC Milan frontman. A determined block was required to deny Alex Baena moments after his introduction before Schmeichel once again spread himself to deny Spain’s captain from point-blank range.
Yamal was the latest to be denied having danced his way inside, but Zubimendi’s volley in the 79th minute took a nick off Hojbjerg and squeezed through Schmeichel’s grasp to hand La Roja a late winner.
Spain therefore took all three points to usurp Denmark and go top of UNL Group A4 in addition to extending their unbeaten run to 13 matches in total. They also inflicted just the second defeat in Denmark’s last 11 matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Martin Zubimendi (Spain)
