Spain Achieves Flawless 6-0 Victory Over Turkiye In World Cup Qualifying Match

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Spain's national football team delivered an impressive 6-0 victory over Turkiye, maintaining their perfect start in the World Cup qualifiers. Luis de la Fuente, the team's coach, praised the performance as flawless. Mikel Merino scored a hat-trick, becoming only the second Spanish midfielder to achieve this feat in 15 years. Mikel Oyarzabal contributed with three assists, adding to Spain's dominant display.

Pedri also made his mark by scoring twice, once before and once after halftime. Substitute Ferran Torres added another goal, contributing to Spain's second-largest away win in World Cup qualifying history. The team's first two matches have seen them score nine goals. Their expected goals (xG) stood at 2.42 from 21 shots, compared to Turkiye's 0.54 from nine attempts.

De la Fuente expressed satisfaction with the team's improvement since their previous match against Bulgaria. He stated, "Today we were flawless, there's not much more to say." He emphasised that they aimed to avoid repeating past mistakes and are already planning for future improvements.

Lamine Yamal didn't score but was crucial with two assists and led in creating chances and successful dribbles. Despite not scoring, his performance was notable. Yamal and Fabian Ruiz are Spain's representatives on the Ballon d'Or shortlist. De la Fuente believes more Spanish players deserve recognition for their talent.

Reflecting on past legends like Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, De la Fuente said they should have won the Ballon d'Or. He remarked, "Whenever there is a Spanish footballer on that shortlist I feel happy." He believes Spain has some of the world's best players in various positions.

Since taking over as coach in December 2022 after Luis Enrique's departure, De la Fuente has achieved 26 wins out of 35 matches with the national team. His leadership has been instrumental in Spain's recent successes on the international stage.