Euro 2024 Qualifying: Spain, Portugal, Croatia secure wins

A hat-trick by skipper Alvaro Morata helped two-time champions Spain secure a massive 7-1 win over Georgia in their Euro 2024 Qualifying Group A match

Tbilisi: A hat-trick by skipper Alvaro Morata helped two-time champions Spain secure a massive 7-1 win over Georgia in their Euro 2024 Qualifying Group A match on Friday night.

For Spain, goals were scored by Morata (22nd, 40th and 65th minute), Solomon Kvirkvelia (27th minute, own goal), Dani Olmo (38th minute), Nico Williams (68th minute) and Lamine Yamal (74th minute). For Georgia in the 49th minute, Giorgi Chakvetadze scored the solitary goal.

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With this win, Spain is now in the second spot in Group A with six points with two wins and a loss while Georgia is fourth with four points, with one win, one loss and two draws.

In another Group A match, Cyprus registered a 3-0 loss to Scotland. Scott McTominay (6th minute), Ryan Porteous (16th minute) and John McGinn (30th minute) scored for Scotland, keeping them at the top with five wins in five matches and a total of 15 points. Cyprus has lost all its four matches and stays at the bottom.

In a Group D match, Croatia, the third-place finishers in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, handed a 5-0 loss to Latvia, with a brace from Bruno Petkovic (3rd and 44th minute) and contributions from Luka Ivanusec (13th minute), Andrej Kramaric (68th minute) and Mario Pasalic (78th minute) bringing them to the second spot with two wins and a draw, which translates to seven points. Latvia is at the bottom, having lost all their matches so far.

2016 Euro Champions Portugal beat Slovakia 1-0 in their Group J match. Bruno Fernandes scored the solitary goal for Portugal in the 43rd minute. Portugal stays at the top with 15 points, winning five out of their five matches. Slovakia is at the second spot with 10 points, with three wins, one loss and one draw in five matches.

Euro 2024 will take place next year from June to July. The qualifier process is ongoing through which the rest of the 23 participants other than automatically qualified hosts in Germany will be determined. There are 10 groups of five teams each, from which the top two per group will qualify. Three more teams will be confirmed via playoffs from March 2024.