Pedri speaks out after Spain lose to Japan but progress to World Cup Round of 16

Barcelona midfielder Pedri was happy to share his thoughts after a wild night of World Cup action in Qatar.

Spain needed just a point to progress but ended up losing 2-1 to Japan. However, Spain ended up going through with Germany being dumped out instead.

At one point Spain had been facing a shock exit from the tournament, and Pedri says the players knew they had to try and find a way back into the match.

“We knew it was going to be very difficult. Japan put a lot of intensity into it and left very few spaces. It’s a game we didn’t expect to lose,” he said.

”The coach told us that they had to take risks. The two goals surprised us... We had to move the ball a lot more and we didn’t.

“We knew we were out. Personally, I tried to encourage my teammates to look for that goal, but we didn’t manage it.

”We have to go with everything, the games now are life or death. The coach will tell us the failures we have had and what we have to improve on.”

Japan progress as group winners and go on to play Croatia. Spain take on Morocco on Tuesday.