Euro 2024: Spain defeat Albania to finish group with 9 points and qualifying for the round of 16
i

Spain defeat Albania to finish top of their group || Imago

Euro 2024: Spain defeat Albania to finish group with 9 points and qualifying for the round of 16

Stephen Oladehinde 22:01 - 24.06.2024

Spain remain undefeated as they sealed a victory against Albania and topped their group ahead of Italy and Croatia.

A first-half early goal for Ferran Torres was enough to get Spain the win and top the table with nine points.

The win takes Luis de la Fuente’s side to the Round of 16 as they are yet to know their knockout opponent.

As it happened 

Albania made just one change from the side that began the 2-2 draw with Croatia as Ivan Balliu replaced Elseid Hysaj at right-back.

Brentford's Thomas Strakosha started in goal, and Fulham striker Armando Broja was named again among the substitutes.

Luis de la Fuente made 10 changes from the side that began the 1-0 win over Italy, with former Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte the only man to stay in the team.

Goalkeeper David Raya started as Jesus Navas played right-back Ferran Torres on the flank, and Joselu led the attack.

var widgetLoaderConfig = widgetLoaderConfig || { CDN_URL: 'https://widgets.sportal365.com', APP_LINK: 'desktop', API_URL: 'https://africa.football.api.sportal365.com/', API_KEY: '2f852b4de2f3a5cf3188e74b33087bb4:2c18422f8e826a7d11aeed52edb2449e', LANG: 'en', REQUEST_INTERVAL: 30, ENABLE_BET_SLIP: false, AUTHOR: false, THEME: "light", TOURNAMENT_ORDER: "pulse_nigeria", LINK_OPTIONS_V2: { 'player' : { 'url': '/football/player/{playerId}' }, 'team' : { 'url': '/football/{teamId}' }, 'tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}' }, 'match': { 'url' : '/football/match/{matchId}', 'sort': { 'criteria': 'alphabetically', 'direction': 'asc' } }, 'configuration': { 'newWindow': false }, 'standings_tournament': { 'url': '/football/competition/{tournamentId}/standings' } } }; if (!document.querySelector('script[src="https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js"]')) { window.setTimeout(function () { let scriptCss = document.createElement('link'); scriptCss.href = 'https://www.pulsesports.co.ke/css/sport-widgets.css?v=1668785443'; scriptCss.rel = 'stylesheet'; scriptCss.type = 'text/css'; document.body.appendChild(scriptCss); let scriptTag = document.createElement('script'); scriptTag.src = 'https://widgets.sportal365.com/loader.bundle.min.js'; scriptTag.defer = true; scriptTag.onload = function () { window.setTimeout(function () { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }, 200); }; document.head.appendChild(scriptTag); }, 0); } else { new SMPWidgetsLoader(widgetLoaderConfig); }

Spain started the game by dominating possession and got the first goal of the game just 12 minutes into the game.

Ferran Torres slipped in behind the Albanian defence and produced a smart finish off the post following a lovely pass by Dani Olmo.

Ferran Torres scores Spain's only goal || Imago
Ferran Torres scores Spain's only goal || Imago

Spain pushed for the second goal but could not convert their chances as the referee blew the whistle for halftime.

The second half started and Spain continued dominating possession and creating lots of chances in the final third.

However, despite the chances created, they were unable to score the second goal of the game till the final whistle was blown.

Tags: