Fernando Hierro proud of Spain performance in World Cup draw with Portugal

Spain head coach Fernando Hierro has praised his players for their performance in Friday night's 3-3 draw with Portugal at the 2018 World Cup.

La Roja were rocked by the sacking of Julen Lopetegui just days before the tournament got underway, but the 2010 champions put in a solid display against the Euro 2016 victors and nearly left Sochi with all three points.

Cristiano Ronaldo put Portugal ahead early on and went on to score a hat-trick, but the third strike came late on after Spain had surged ahead just before the hour and continued to lead into the latter stages of the game.

"We feel very proud of the players we have come back and equalised twice so we feel a great commitment and pride," Hierro told BBC Sport. "This is a mature squad, the team knows what it wants and have been playing a lot together. It is wonderful to have these mature, committed players.

"We are a team, we know that players have good days and not as good days, but we are a team. Diego Costa has played a sensational match but it is all of us together as a team, together. We are not going to criticise anyone.

"There was already a plan in place for the first match so we were going to stick with that plan... the Spanish players are extremely professional and I hope this squad will continue to show that motivation. All the players are important from player number one to player number 23."

Spain return to action on Wednesday, June 20 when they take on Iran at the Kazan Arena.