Spain have won all eight of their previous encounters with Albania (31 goals for, 3 against). It’s Spain’s best 100% record against any opponent, alongside Liechtenstein and Malta, whom they’ve also faced and beaten on eight occasions.
Albania have conceded at least twice in all eight of their meetings with Spain in all competitions. Their 9-0 defeat against them in a EURO qualifier in December 1990 remains their largest ever competitive defeat.
Albania have netted the opening goal in each of their two UEFA EURO 2024 matches, although they are yet to win (D1 L1). No nation has ever scored first in three European Championship games in a row and failed to win any of them.
Spain will be looking to win their opening three games of a UEFA European Championship tournament for just a second time, having previously done so in 2008 – an edition they would go on to win (1-0 v Germany in the final).
Albania have conceded two goals in each of their last two games, both at UEFA EURO 2024 (1-2 vs Italy, 2-2 vs Croatia), having only shipped two or more goals in one of their previous 14 games in all competitions. They haven’t conceded 2+ goals in three games in a row since a run of five between October 2016 and June 2017.
Spain won possession in the final third on 10 occasions against Italy last time out; the most times they’ve done so in a game at the UEFA European Championship since the 2008 quarter-final, which was also against Italy (13).
If Pedri features for Spain in this match, he will establish a new record by a European player for major tournament appearances (World Cup/EUROs) while aged 21 or under, overtaking Cristiano Ronaldo (currently level on 12 games each).
Across their two UEFA EURO 2024 matches, Kristjan Asllani leads all Albania players for shots attempted (4), shots on target (2), successful passes (91) and passes in the final third (20), while he’s also created the joint-most chances (3).
Nico Williams created the most chances (4) and completed the joint most dribbles (4) of any Spain player against Italy on MD2. Indeed, the last Spaniard to create as many chances and complete as many dribbles in the same game at the UEFA European Championship was Andrés Iniesta versus Croatia in 2012 (also four for each).
On MD2 against Croatia, Albania’s Klaus Gjasula became the first player in the history of the UEFA European Championship and World Cup combined to come off the bench and score a goal and an own goal. In 17 minutes at EURO 2024, Gjasula has had as many shots on target as he did in 1,366 minutes in the German Bundesliga this season for SV Darmstadt 98 (1).