Spain 2-0 Scotland: Alvaro Morata strikes as Tartan Army made to wait for Euro 2024 qualification

Scotland were unable to secure the point they needed to book their place in Germany next summer
REUTERS
Matt Verri12 October 2023

Scotland’s Euro 2024 celebrations were put on hold as Alvaro Morata sent Spain on their way to a battling 2-0 win.

Having won their opening five qualifying matches in Group A, Steve Clarke’s side travelled to Seville knowing a point would be enough to seal their spot in Germany next summer.

Spain dominated the opening 45 minutes, but Scotland, who lost Andy Robertson to a shoulder injury, made it to the break on level terms and then thought they had taken the lead themselves in the second-half.

Scott McTominay’s brilliant free-kick from near the byline flew into the top corner, for what appeared to be his seventh goal of the campaign, but a VAR check that initially seemed to be for a foul eventually deemed Jack Hendry in the middle to be offside and interfering with play.

It proved to be a decisive moment. Jesus Navas, shortly after coming on, whipped a superb cross into the middle and Spanish captain Morata did the rest with a flicked header, before the hosts made sure of the result in the final few minutes.

Aaron Hickey slipped at the worst possible time, allowing Joselu to pounce and play the ball across the face of goal, where Ryan Porteous turned it into his own net as Oihan Sancet slid in with him.

There will be no panic in the Scottish camp though, with the Tartan Army officially progressing to Euro 2024 if Norway fail to beat Spain this Sunday. If not, Scotland will have two more chances to get the job done themselves next month.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in