History-making Spanish women post perfect Finnish to Euros qualifying

In recent times, the Spanish women's national team have served up a tale of total transformation. Of rebirth. They have shown what it looks like to lead the way and do so commandingly, and to have fun on the pitch. And entertain thousands of people in the process.

They did it again against Finland, putting their opponents to the sword in devastating fashion in front of a crowd of more than 5,000 at Butarque, the home of LaLiga Santander outfit CD Leganes. It was an example of top-class ruthlessness befitting a top-flight stadium, with goals from Marta Torrejon, Amanda Sampedro, Jenni Hermoso and Irene Paredes (2) securing the spoils. The result was worth more than just three points: it means that Jorge Vilda's history-makers will go to the 2017 European Championship as unbeaten group winners, having triumphed in each and every one of their qualifiers.

The performance was not as sparkling – nor the scoreline as emphatic – as in last Thursday's 13-0 mauling of Montenegro, but that was to be expected up against a Finnish side needing to win in order to reach Euro 2017 themselves. Spain made just two changes to their starting XI from last week's match at Las Rozas, with Lola Gallardo replacing Sandra Paños between the sticks and Olga Garcia coming in for Vicky Losada.

La Roja had the better of it from the off, dominating possession and playing the game on their terms. However, they initially had trouble carving out openings, and indeed the first chance fell to Finland, with only the cat-like reflexes of Atletico Madrid keeper Gallardo stopping the visitors from taking a shock lead. That was to be the away team's only opportunity of the half, though, as Spain stepped it up a notch and broke the deadlock. FC Barcelona star Marta Torrejon was responsible, latching on to a loose ball and volleying home to send the fans in the stands into raptures.

Having put their noses in front, Spain's dominance only increased, while the Finns sat back and looked to strike on the counter-attack. However, the defence marshalled by Irene Paredes held firm and barely offered their opponents another sniff up to half-time, and it remained 1-0 at the break.

It was a more evenly matched start to the second period, with the likes of Ria Oling, Sanni Franssi and Adelina Engman threatening Gallardo's goal. Thirteen minutes after the restart, the shotstopper had to pull off a save at full stretch to prevent an equaliser and atone for a poor punched clearance that had led to the chance.

Seven minutes later, Spain made it 2-0 after the referee pointed to the spot for a foul on Sampedro. Paredes calmly stepped up and drove the ball into the bottom corner of the net. The PSG defender got back on the scoresheet in the latter stages, heading home from a corner on this occasion. There was still time for two more goals, with Amanda converting a second penalty with five minutes left on the clock and then Barça hotshot Jenni Hermoso, a second-half substitute, rounding off the scoring by finishing with aplomb following clubmate Barbara Latorre's well-weighted pass.

This week marks a year since Jorge Vilda took the reins and he is still yet to taste defeat. His team finished Euros qualifying with a perfect record, having scored 39 goals and conceded just two. Talk about a happy ending. Now all that remains is to hope that they can reproduce form like this next year in the Netherlands.