Beaten 2-0 in Glasgow in the first leg, Spain managed to win Thursday (2-0) against Scotland, leader of Group A of the qualifiers undefeated until then, and took a step towards qualification for Euro 2024 in Germany.
Thanks to this success, Spain consolidates its second place and comes back to three points behind its evening opponent, who had the opportunity to validate their ticket for the Euro in the event of a positive result. La Roja can qualify on Sunday if they emerge victorious from their trip to Oslo against Norway, who easily beat Cyprus (4-0).
Largely dominant, the Spaniards immediately asserted their superiority and put in place their collective game, but lacked precision in the opposing area, like Ferran Torres (2nd), Alvaro Morata (31st) and Oyarzabal (20th, 34th). Following a blocked attempt by the Real Sociedad striker, his teammate Mikel Merino had the ball for 1-0 but found the right post of Scottish goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
The Norwich goalkeeper was also the British player who touched the most balls in the first half, where he tried to gain time on each of his restarts to break the rhythm.
However, he never managed to find his attackers, his long aerial balls only finding the heads of Rodri, Le Normand and Laporte, and not that of Dykes, the Queens Park Rangers striker. In one of their only constructed actions, the Scots lost their captain Andy Robertson, replaced by Patterson, after a collision in the air with Unai Simon, where he visibly landed badly on his elbow (40th).
It was not until the hour mark that the Scots finally found Dykes on the deflection and proved dangerous, Christie pushing Carvajal to make a mistake to avoid letting him slip through on goal. The hero of the first leg, Scott McTominay, then believed to offer the three points synonymous with qualification to Scotland with a direct free kick worthy of the former Lyonnais Juninho (60th), but the latter was refused for a foul. ‘Hendry on Unai Simon.
This goal woke up the Spaniards, who went on the attack again led by new arrivals Bryan Zaragoza and Jesus Navas. The 37-year-old Sevillian veteran placed a perfect cross for Morata, who opened the scoring with a header at the near post and freed the Spanish supporters (74th, 1-0). Unai Simon then intervened in front of Adams (81st), Navas in front of Armstrong (83rd) and La Roja ended up doubling the lead with an own goal from defender Ryan Porteous (86th, 2-0).
A victory celebrated with enthusiasm by the public, who took up the song “Viva España” while waving flags and scarves, on the national holiday. The Scots, who came in large numbers to Andalusia, will have two other opportunities to validate their ticket to Germany in November, against Georgia and Norway.
