Euro 2016

Qualifying group C

Spain 4 – Luxembourg 0

Spain: Casillas; Juanfran, Piqué, Marc Bartra, Jordi Alba; Cazorla, Busquets, Cesc Fàbregas; David Silva (Mata 10‘), Morata (Paco Alcácer 33‘), Pedro (Nolito 77‘). 4-3-3.
Luxembourg: Joubert; Delgado, Malget, Chanot, Jans; Mutsch, Payal, Gerson, Martins (Da Mota 79’); Bensi (Deville 64’), Joachim (Turpel 90’). 4-4-2.

Goals:
1-0. 42. Cazorla. Fired ball back into net after Joubert pushed out Pedro shot.
2-0. 66. Alcácer. Ran on to Fàbregas through ball and steered shot past keeper.
3-0. 80. Alcácer. From close up after Alba won ball off Joubert and crossed in.
4-0. 85. Cazorla. Picked up Nolito pass and struck angled shot across keeper.

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, and 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.