Spain sail to Group G summit after Albania win

Spain claimed three richly-deserved points in a win made all the sweeter given its significance to Julen Lopetegui's side's quest to make the 2018 World Cup in Russia, after victory over Albania saw La Roja take top spot in Group G.

Whilst Spain may have been unable to prevail over Italy in midweek, they put in a fine display to claim a 1-1 draw against the Italians. It was a similar story tonight in terms of the performance, as Lopetegui's charges once again showcased their considerable talents, with the visitors displaying all of their class to completely dominate at the Loro Boriçi stadium. With Koke and David Silva pulling the strings in the middle third, Spain enjoyed the upper hand in the possession stakes right from the off.

In the first half it was one-way traffic as Spain recorded an impressive 74% possession. Koke sprayed the ball around at will and had several chances to have broken the deadlock. Meanwhile, Diego Costa came close to making the breakthrough with a 32nd-minute header. Spain were ticking all the boxes, but were unable to make their supremacy tell as the sides went in goalless at the break.

Whilst the visitors failed to score in the opening half, they made up for it after the interval as two second-half strikes secured victory. Costa put Spain into the driving seat on 55 minutes when Silva played the ball across the area for the striker to stroke the ball into an empty net. Spain went on to double their advantage just seven minutes later through Nolito, whose drilled effort from the angle rounded off the scoring for the night.

Spain are next in World Cup qualifying action on 12 November when they play host to Macedonia, a fixture that Lopetegui's side will go into as Group G leaders.