News Archive

Euro 2016 qualifier

Spain 4 - Luxembourg 0

Spain are through to the Euro 2016 finals! Vicente Del Bosque’s side only needed a draw against minnows Luxembourg in the penultimate group game, but although they ran out 4-0 winners in the end, they made hard work of it before that. The coach had to make two changes in the first half hour, Silva and Morata both going off injured, and it was not until three minutes before the break that Cazorla (who had hit the bar a few minutes earlier) finally broke the deadlock after Joubert could only push out an angled shot from Pedro. Midway through the second half Paco Alcácer ran on to a Fàbregas through ball to score a second, and Casillas didn’t have a save to make until he caught a long shot from Gerson soon afterwards. Substitute Nolito did add a bit of spark after that though, Jordi Alba just getting ahead of Joubert to his pass and hooking the ball across to set up Alcácer for the easiest of tap-ins, and Cazorla picking up a square pass from the Celta forward to fire home a fourth. Slovakia’s surprise defeat against Belarus means that Spain are sure of finishing top of their group, and they go on to Ukraine on Monday night knowing that the job is already done. (09.10.15)