Spain romp past Israel to inch closer to World Cup

The Spanish national team took another firm step towards qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia with a 4-1 victory over Israel at El Molinon, the home of R. Sporting.

It was another commanding performance from La Roja in their fifth Group G fixture. Julen Lopetegui's charges bossed the ball from the off and although Israel carved out an early chance, Spain soon responded and opened the scoring. Just 13 minutes had elapsed when Jordi Alba picked out David Silva's darting run into space and the Manchester City schemer took the ball in his stride, swivelled and drilled a low drive between goalkeeper Ofir Marciano's legs and into the net.

Although they were dominant, the hosts failed to add to their lead until the brink of half-time and had to remain on their toes, with the Israelis also threatening periodically. Indeed, only David de Gea's agility and reflexes prevented an equaliser in the 44th minute, the Manchester United shotstopper flinging himself low to his left to claw away a goal-bound header. Barely 120 seconds later and it was 2-0, Vitolo's slightly scuffed strike dribbling over the line after Marciano was unable to get a strong enough hand to it.

The match followed a similar pattern in the second half, with Spain enjoying the lion's share of possession, and it was not long before the third goal arrived. Diego Costa was the scorer, nodding home from a superbly delivered Thiago corner. Though Israel pulled one back with a quarter of an hour to go, there was to be no comeback and Isco applied further gloss to the scoreline on 88'.

The comfortable win keeps Spain top of the Group G table on 13 points, ahead of Italy on goal difference and well on course to reach the next edition of the global showpiece.