After a dubious start, the Spanish team is closer than ever to seal their ticket to the 2016 Euro to be celebrated in France. In order to do so, Vicente del Bosque's men need at least one point against Luxembourg on Friday evening, but there are some issues that could complicate the game for the current title holders.
Coach Vicente del Bosque will have to deal with a number of issues that have affected key players, added to Diego Costa's absence. On the bright side, Spain faces the next-to last team in their group, but their form throughout the qualifying round leaves no room for speculation, since La Roja complicated some of their "easy" games in the recent past.
Spain
As group leaders, Spain will try to make the most out of their home field advantage, in order to smoothly make it to the European competition as soon as possible. To do so, Vicente del Bosque will have to deal with the absence of Andrés Iniesta, Sergio Ramos and Dani Carvajal, three of his iconic players. Iniesta already missed one game with Barcelona prior to the international break, while Carvajal and Ramos came down with injuries this past weekend. Juanfran is expected to take Carvajal's spot as right back, while Ramos may leave his place for Marc Bartra or Real Madrid team-mate Nacho. Up front, Diego Costa was left out as a punishment, given his recent antics with Chelsea, and his place should be taken by Paco Alcácer.
Luxembourg
The underdog for this match will try to complicate things for Spain, although Chriss Phillipps will not be available after picking up a yellow card against Belarus. Luxembourg has not been able to score in five of their most recent six matches, so their chances of damaging Spain's defense are rather slim.
Head to head
Their previous meeting in the Euro 2016 Qualifiers ended with a 4-0 blowout for Spain, with David Silva, Diego Costa, Paco Alcácer and Juan Bernat scoring for La Roja. While Luxembourg has not been able to score in five of the last six games, Spain hasn't conceded any goals in the same number of games, giving us a very good idea of what could happen when the game kicks off at Estadio Municipal Las Gaunas.
Group C standings
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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