Friendly international

Spain 4 - Ecuador 0

A comfortable win for Spain against Ecuador in this friendly game, which was played in Atlético Madrid's Vicente Calderón stadium. A series of injuries left Iñaki Sáez with a depleted squad, but he took the advantage to give a first cap to Xabi Alonso and Gabri and to call up several fringe players, including Real Sociedad's De Pedro and Real Madrid's Morientes, neither of whom had played in recent games. Both were to stake their claims for a regular place, with De Pedro opening the scoring on the quarter hour mark with a deflected free kick, and Morientes scoring his first ever hat-trick for the side. The Real Madrid striker took advantage of slack defending to beat Cevallos twice in three minutes in the first half, first of all winning the ball off Poroso to fire in a shot from the edge of the area, and then connecting with De Pedro's cross for the second. Ecuador made two quick substitutions and their game improved, with Aguinaga testing Cañizares near the break, but Morientes was there again early in the second half to clip the ball past the keeper for his twentieth goal for Spain in only his 28th appearance. (30.04.03)