LITHUANIA 1 SPAIN 3 | EURO 2012 GROUP I QUALIFIER RESULT

SPAIN managed to win away to LITHUANIA 1 - 3 in their EURO 2012 Group I qualifier to give them another victory, consolidate the Groups Top spot & put them nearly into the Euro Finals of next year. The match went ahead after UEFA officials & the French referee decided that the turf ( without grass ) was apt to play on & safe. Correct decision as no one from both teams were injured in a game played in good spirits as there was no difficult situations for the referee. 

Xavi scores for Spain: photo-J.A.Gracia/Marca

Spanish Coach Del Bosque put the following starting 11: Casillas; Iraola, Piqué, Albiol, Arbeloa; Xabi Alonso, Javi Martínez, Xavi, Cazorla, Villa & Llorente, with At.Bilbao defender Iraola winning an International Cap & other well know stars getting a rest.

The match was played well considering the circumstances of the surface with Spain dominating & with Lithuanian goalkeeper Karcemarskas stopping the Spanish forwards. The first goal came in the 19th min via XAVI HERNANDEZ which took a slight deflection to loop over the goalie.

The second half saw Spain begin well until Valencia CF defender & Lithuanian Captain STANKEVICIUS got onto a "cracker" from 30 mts to power drive passed Iker Casillas with an unstoppable goal. This raised the confidence of the home team & they put Spain under pressure & gave them their worst 15 mins of Football. Spain reacted with substitutions giving David Silva & Juna Mata a run & it paid off.

Spain scored their second in the 70th min via an own goal from defender KIJANSKAS who could do little as Llorente was in clear shot position, then JUAN MATA finished off a nice worked play with a third for Spain in the 83rd min.

Great result for Spain & even better was the fact that no one got injured playing on a "terrible" ground, that at least held out the full 90 minutes.

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