Spain vs Ukraine Match Report

Spain 1-0 Ukraine – Report

Spain: Casillas; Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Alba (Bernat 79); Busquets, Koke, Iniesta (Cazorla 74); Silva, Isco, Morata (Pedro 65)

Ukraine: Pyatov; Fedetskyi, Khacheridi, Kucher, Shevchuk; Tymoshchuk, Stepanenko (Garmash 76); Konoplyanka, Rotan, Yarmolenko; Zozulya (Kravets 32, Budkivskiy 91)

Alvaro Morata saves the day for the champions as his solitary strike gives Spain the all important three points against Ukraine in Euro 16 qualifier. This was Morata’s first start for his national team and also his debut goal.

Spain started the game brightly as the attacking trio of Iniesta, Silva and Isco pressurized the Ukrainian defenders. It was an all out barrage from the hosts and Ukraine only had their share of excitement on a rare counter which were few and far in between.

Morata’s looping strike broke the deadlock in the 28th minute. Andres Iniesta and Koke’s brilliance set the Juventus man through who improvised with a superb ballooning strike which evaded Andriy Pyatov.

The second half saw more adventurous style of play from Ukraine. They harassed Spain and nearly equalised when Iker Casillas gifted them a glorious opportunity by hitting his pass straight to Dnipro’s Roitan but thankfully Rotan hit it straight to the Spanish captain who parried his shot away.

In the end it was the good ol dogged defending which gave La Roja all the three points and kept them in touching distance of group leaders Slovakia.