Belarus: Gorbunov; Shitov, Filipenko, Martynovich, Bordachev; Kislyak (Dragun 78’), Maevski; Nekhaychik, Hleb (Putilo 89’), Volodko (Stasevich 80’); Kornilenko. 4-2-3-1.
Spain: Casillas; Juanfran, Piqué, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Busquets; David Silva (Bernat 85’), Pedro (Vitolo 65‘), Fàbregas (Isco 75’), Cazorla; Morata. 4-1-4-1.
Goals:
0-1. 45. Silva. Controlled wide Fàbregas free kick and fired angled shot into net.
Another tight win for Spain, Del Bosque’s side beating Belarus 0-1 to hold on to second spot in the table. The coach returned to his tried and tested line-up for this match after giving a run out to others in the midweek friendly, Casillas back in goal and Morata leading the attack. Pedro and Ramos brought early saves out of Gorbunov and Jordi Alba volleyed a shot over the top as the visitors dominated, but it was not until the stroke of half time that David Silva collected a long Fàbregas corner on the far post to open the scoring with an angled shot in off a defender. The hosts came out strongly after the restart, Kornilenko in particular firing a free kick wide and then bringing the save of the night out of Casillas. Gorbunov responded though deflecting a shot from Silva over the bar, and Morata missed a couple of chances to put the game to bed later on. Not the best of performances, but with Slovakia and Ukraine both winning as well they at least got the result they needed to stay on track for a place in the finals.