Samu Aghehowa for what should have been the first, and a neat lay-off saw Oyarzabal scuff his shot. He got a chance of his own only to slice his volley but then, almost immediately after, he floated another ball in that started it all.
This time Robin Le Normand nodded back across and Merino headed home. Spain, who had 88% of the possession, now had the lead. The heat map looked like they had run out of spray paint halfway through and a moment later Aghehowa might have made it two. But then in part it is the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football great. And the first time Bulgaria escaped into Spain’s half they might have equalised, Kiril Despodov suddenly sprinting away and hitting the side-netting.
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Spain carried on regardless. Introduced at the break, Borja Iglesias had three chances in as many minutes before Merino did it again. The cross from the left was superb from Álex Grimaldo and there, leaping above everyone, was Merino to power the header down and dash off to do laps round the corner flag celebrating his eighth goal in his past eight internationals.
As had happened after the opener, Despodov escaped again to miss a good chance yet the visitors’ sole shot on target was at the wrong end, Atanas Chernev turning into his own net on 79 minutes. And still it was not quite done, Merino kicked in the shins and stepping aside, allowing Oyarzabal to smash in the 99th goal of De la Fuente’s ongoing reign.
Match Stats
Possession
BUL24
ESP76
%
Attempts
22
Off target
10
On target
3
0
Corners
11
0
Fouls
7
6
Lineups
Spain
23
Unai Simon
12
Pedro Porro
3
Robin Le Normand
10
Aymeric Laporte
17
Alex Grimaldo
18
Martin Zubimendi
20
Pedro Gonzalez
21
Mikel Oyarzabal
6
Mikel Merino
16
Alex Baena
19
Samuel Aghehowa
Substitutes
1
David Raya
13
Alejandro Remiro
2
Jorge de Frutos
4
Pau Cubarsi
5
Dani Vivian (s 71')
7
Yeremy Pino (s 63')
8
Aleix Garcia (s 63')
9
Borja Iglesias (s 46')
11
Jesus Rodriguez
14
Marcos Llorente
15
Pablo Barrios (s 68')
22
Marc Cucurella
Bulgaria
21
Svetoslav Vutsov
20
Martin Georgiev
15
Petko Hristov
3
Atanas Chernev
22
Dimitar Velkovski
17
Martin Minchev
23
Stanislav Shopov
4
Ilia Gruev
14
Filip Krastev
10
Radoslav Kirilov
11
Kiril Despodov
Substitutes
1
Dimitar Mitov
13
Dimitar Sheytanov
2
Hristiyan Petrov
5
Kristian Dimitrov
6
Viktor Popov
7
Zdravko Dimitrov (s 67')
8
Andrian K
Samu Aghehowa for what should have been the first, and a neat lay-off saw Oyarzabal scuff his shot. He got a chance of his own only to slice his volley but then, almost immediately after, he floated another ball in that started it all.
This time Robin Le Normand nodded back across and Merino headed home. Spain, who had 88% of the possession, now had the lead. The heat map looked like they had run out of spray paint halfway through and a moment later Aghehowa might have made it two. But then in part it is the unpredictability, even the injustice, that makes football great. And the first time Bulgaria escaped into Spain’s half they might have equalised, Kiril Despodov suddenly sprinting away and hitting the side-netting.
skip past newsletter promotion
Sign up to Football Daily
Free daily newsletter
Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football
Enter your email address
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Get updates about our journalism and ways to support and enjoy our work.
Sign up
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
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Spain carried on regardless. Introduced at the break, Borja Iglesias had three chances in as many minutes before Merino did it again. The cross from the left was superb from Álex Grimaldo and there, leaping above everyone, was Merino to power the header down and dash off to do laps round the corner flag celebrating his eighth goal in his past eight internationals.
As had happened after the opener, Despodov escaped again to miss a good chance yet the visitors’ sole shot on target was at the wrong end, Atanas Chernev turning into his own net on 79 minutes. And still it was not quite done, Merino kicked in the shins and stepping aside, allowing Oyarzabal to smash in the 99th goal of De la Fuente’s ongoing reign.
Match Stats
Possession
BUL24
ESP76
%
Attempts
22
Off target
10
On target
3
0
Corners
11
0
Fouls
7
6
Lineups
Spain
23
Unai Simon
12
Pedro Porro
3
Robin Le Normand
10
Aymeric Laporte
17
Alex Grimaldo
18
Martin Zubimendi
20
Pedro Gonzalez
21
Mikel Oyarzabal
6
Mikel Merino
16
Alex Baena
19
Samuel Aghehowa
Substitutes
1
David Raya
13
Alejandro Remiro
2
Jorge de Frutos
4
Pau Cubarsi
5
Dani Vivian (s 71')
7
Yeremy Pino (s 63')
8
Aleix Garcia (s 63')
9
Borja Iglesias (s 46')
11
Jesus Rodriguez
14
Marcos Llorente
15
Pablo Barrios (s 68')
22
Marc Cucurella
Bulgaria
21
Svetoslav Vutsov
20
Martin Georgiev
15
Petko Hristov
3
Atanas Chernev
22
Dimitar Velkovski
17
Martin Minchev
23
Stanislav Shopov
4
Ilia Gruev
14
Filip Krastev
10
Radoslav Kirilov
11
Kiril Despodov
Substitutes
1
Dimitar Mitov
13
Dimitar Sheytanov
2
Hristiyan Petrov
5
Kristian Dimitrov
6
Viktor Popov
7
Zdravko Dimitrov (s 67')
8
Andrian K
raev (s 89')
9
Vladimir Nikolov (s 67')
12
Rosen Bozhinov
16
Marin Petkov (s 67')
18
Ivaylo Chochev
19
Kristiyan Stoyanov (s 84')
raev (s 89')
9
Vladimir Nikolov (s 67')
12
Rosen Bozhinov
16
Marin Petkov (s 67')
18
Ivaylo Chochev
19
Kristiyan Stoyanov (s 84')
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