SPAIN claimed the biggest win of the tournament with a 5-0
thrashing of Slovakia in their final European Championship Group E match on Wednesday to finish second in the group and set up a last-16 clash with Croatia in Copenhagen.
Goals from Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia, Ferran Torres and two own goals from Martin Dubravka and Juraj Kucka sealed Spain’s progress to the knockout stages.
Slovakia were eliminated as four other third-placed teams had either more points or a better goal difference.
Dubravka saved an early penalty from Alvaro Morata but gifted Spain the opener when he attempted to punch a rebound off Sarabia’s shot over the bar, only to palm it into his own net.
Aymeric Laporte doubled the lead before halftime. Sarabia was then rewarded with a goal when left back Jordi Alba swung a cross into the box and the Paris Saint-Germain winger found space to take a first-time shot that went in off the post.
Sarabia turned provider when he set up substitute Ferran Torres who scored within a minute of coming on, flicking a low cross past Dubravka for the fifth. Spain forced another own goal minutes later when Kucka failed to clear off the line.
Spain equalled the largest margin of victory in a game at the European Championships, becoming the fifth different side to win by five goals in the competition (after France and Denmark in 1984, the Netherlands in 2000 and Sweden in 2004).
This was Spain’s 50th win at a major tournament (World Cup & Euros), becoming the fourth European side to reach this milestone of victories, after Germany, Italy and France.
Štefan Tarkovic suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since taking charge of Slovakia, with tonight being his 12th game at the helm.
Spain scored five goals in a single European Championship match for the very first time, with this being their 43rd game in the competition.
Since making his debut for the national side in October 2019, Gerard Moreno has been directly involved in 10 goals for Spain (five goals and five assists) – more than any other player for them in this period.
With what was his first touch in the game, Ferran Torres scored just 44 seconds after coming on as a substitute for Spain – the quickest goal scored by a substitute at the European Championships since fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Valerón in 2004 (39 seconds v Russia).
Slovakian pair Martin Dubravka and Juraj Kucka became the seventh and eighth different players to score an own goal at EURO 2020 – indeed, the eight own goals at this tournament is as many as was scored between the 2016 and 1980 editions combined (8).
Spain failed to score both of their penalties in the group stage at EURO 2020; the first team to fail to convert two penalties in a single tournament in the competition since the Netherlands in 2000.
This was the first time Spain have started two players aged under 21 (Pedri and Eric García) in a game at the European Championships, and first time in a major tournament game since the 2006 World Cup (Sergio Ramos and Cesc Fàbregas against France). — SuperSport
