Euro 2004 qualifier

Ukraine 2 - Spain 2

Spain earned themselves a valuable draw against Ukraine, and could have had a win if it had not been for an injury time equaliser from the East European side. Iñaki Sáez's side were trailing for much of the match though, Voronin putting the locals ahead in the eleventh minute after Casillas and Salgado both left Shevchenko's lifted cross to each other. After the early goal Buriak ordered his men back to defend, and Guti went close on a couple of occasions either side of half time. Eventually though Sáez turned to Valerón and then Diego Tristán to strengthen the attack. With eight minutes to go a long Tristán shot deflected off a defender, and with the ball apparently bouncing in to the hands of Shovkovskiy, Raúl somehow nipped in to force the ball in to the net. Then four minutes later Baraja found Etxeberría for him to fire a left foot shot past the keeper. It appeared that Spain had pulled off a remarkable turn around, but in the last minute of injury time Horshkov latched on to Husin's cross to hit a first time volley past Casillas from all of thirty metres out. The point though keeps Spain at the top of the group, and if they beat Armenia on Wednesday night they will be well on the way to qualifying for Portugal. (29.03.03)