(Football news) Spain defeated Georgia 7-1 on Friday to climb into second place in the section, while Cyprus, who are currently last with 0 points, were defeated 3-0 by Scotland on the same evening. Spain was under pressure going into their match on Friday against Georgia because of their recent 2-0 loss to Scotland in a Euro 2024 qualifying match.

However, La Roja’s confidence would have grown as a result of their UEFA Nations League victory in June, and the national team were outstanding against Georgia, earning a 7-1 victory, with Alvaro Morata scoring a hat-trick and Lamine Yamal coming up with a historic goal late in the game.

In the victory on the road, Yamal made history by becoming the youngest player and goal scorer in Spain’s history. Luis de la Fuente’s team now has six points in the division, two points clear of third-placed Norway.

Despite having two games in hand on both the team at the top of the division and Norway in third place, La Roja still trails leaders Scotland by nine points.

Both in 2008 and in 2012, Spain won the European Championship. However, they were knocked out in the last 16 of the 2016 competition before reaching the semifinals of the Euro 2020 competition, when they were defeated by eventual champion Italy on penalties.

Cyprus, however, will enter this encounter fresh off a 3-0 home loss to Scotland that left them at the bottom of the group with no points after four games.

It is quite unlikely that they will accumulate enough points in their final four games to put themselves in the running for the top two after a dismal qualification campaign in which they only managed to score twice and allow 11 goals.

Cyprus has never made it to the championship match at a major tournament, although they have won seven games in each of their last two European Championship qualifying campaigns, therefore this has been a fairly weak group so far.

The team of Temur Ketsbaia will play two qualification games against Norway and Georgia in the following month before wrapping up at home against Spain in the middle of November. Cyprus had lost seven of their previous eight games against Spain, but they did triumph 3-2 when the two teams faced off during the Euro 2000 qualifying round.

Spain Euro Qualifiers Form

W L W

Cyprus Euro Qualifiers Form

L L L L

Due to the injuries to Marco Asensio and Dani Olmo, Yeremy Pino and Ferran Torres have been welcomed into the Spain camp in preparation for this encounter. As a result, the front three will change twice from the match on Friday. Yamal and Nico Williams are most likely to be the two newcomers.

With his goal against Georgia, Yamal contributed to the making of two pieces of Spanish history. The 16-year-old may now make his debut for Spain in an international match. Alejandro Balde is expected to take Jose Gaya’s spot at left-back, opening up the possibility of a change there as well. However, Fabian Ruiz should continue to start in central midfield.

Cyprus, however, has not yet revealed any new injury concerns following their three-goal defeat to Scotland, but changes are anticipated. Both Ioannis Pittas and Michalis Ioannou made good first impressions last time out off the bench and could now start on Tuesday night.

Alex Gogic, a St. Mirren player is also a candidate to start, although players like Charalambos Kyriakou and Charalambos Charalambous should continue to play in the starting lineup.
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