World and European champions Spain remained unbeaten atop Group I of Euro 2012 qualifying with a 3-1 victory over Lithuania away last night.

Goals from Xavi and Juan Manuel Mata sandwiched an own goal by Tadas Kijanskas to hand the Spaniards their fifth win from five games, although the hosts had briefly drawn level with a wonder strike by Marius Stankevicius.

“It was important to win today despite the lamentable state of the pitch,” said Spain midfielder Xavi.

“It’s just sand, it’s sad to see a pitch like that. You can’t play football here.

“But we’re happy. We have a foot and a half in the Euro,” he told Telecinco.

“They played on the counter-attack and we tried not to fall into their trap.”

All the pre-game talk had been of the poor quality of the pitch, with Spain coach Vicente del Bosque even going as far as saying he would prefer his side not to play the match due to the woeful state of the playing surface.

But the two teams seemed unaffected on the pitch, with Spain opening the scoring in the 20th minute when Xavi’s dipping shot took a wicked deflection off a defender to loop past goalkeeper Zydrunas Karcemarskas.

But Lithuania battled well and hit back in the 57th minute through Stankevicius.

The Valencia defender capitalised on a poor clearance from the penalty area to drill a right-footed volley straight and hard past despairing Spain captain Iker Casillas in goal.

Xabi Alonso then saw his well-struck 65th-minute free-kick tipped over the bar by Karcemarskas.

Although Spain were not dominating midfield, a slip-up by the hosts saw Mata played in down the left. The Valencia forward drove into the area and crossed perfectly into the path of Fernando Llorente.

But the Athletic Bilbao striker was beaten to it by the misjudged knee of fast-approaching defender Tadas Kijanskas, contact from which nudged the ball into the goal.

Spain wrapped up the result when a beautiful one-touch build-up saw David Silva play in Mata, the diminutive winger taking the ball on and beating Karcemarskas at the near post.

Holland also moved on the brink of Euro 2012 qualification but were pushed all the way by Hungary in a thrilling Group E encounter at the Amsterdam Arena.

Dirk Kuyt’s late brace eventually settled a topsy-turvy encounter in the hosts’ favour after the Hungarians – beaten 4-0 in the reverse fixture in Budapest on Friday – twice fought their way back into the game.

Robin van Persie’s early strike gave the Dutch a half-time advantage but goals from Gergely Rudolf and Zoltan Gera turned the game on its head.

Gera equalised again after goals from Wesley Sneijder and Ruud van Nistelrooy had got Holland back in front, before Liverpool striker Kuyt had the final say to move Bert van Marwijk’s side onto 18 points from six games.

From the same group, Sweden held off a spirited performance from Moldova to claim victory in their qualifier in Solna.

Mikael Lustig gave the Scandinavians a 30th-minute lead, but they were never comfortable until Sebastian Larsson scored his first international goal eight minutes from time.

Skipper Zlatan Ibrahimovic set up Birmingham midfielder Larsson to help make up for his first-half penalty miss, and the strike proved important after Alexandr Suvorov fired in a deserved goal for the visitors in stoppage time.

Ben Haim winner

Substitute Tal Ben Haim scored the only goal as resurgent Israel saw off Georgia in Tel Aviv.

The Maccabi Petah Tikva attacker had been on the pitch only six minutes when he settled matters with a low strike from inside the box.

The win, Israel’s second in four days, saw them leapfrog their opponents into third in the Group F table, one point behind leaders Greece, albeit having played a game more.

Group A

Turkey 2
Turan 28; Gonul 77;
Austria 0

Missed penalty: Maierhofer (A) 85.

Belgium 4
Vertonghen 12; Simons 32; Chadli 45; Vossen 74;
Azerbaijan 1
Abushev 17;

Group B

June 4
Russia vs Armenia
Slovakia vs Andorra
Macedonia vs Ireland

September 2
Andorra vs Armenia
Russia vs Macedonia
Ireland vs Slovakia

Group C

Estonia 1
Vassiljev 84;
Serbia 1
Pantelic 38;

N. Ireland 0
Slovenia 0

June 3
Italy vs Estonia
Faroe Islands vs Slovenia

Group D

Romania 3
Mutu 24, 68; Zicu 78;
Luxembourg 1
Gerson 22;

June 3 − Romania vs Bosnia; Belarus vs France
June 7 − Belarus vs Luxembourg; Bosnia vs Albania

Group E

Sweden 2
Lustig 30; Larsson 81;
Moldova 1
Frunza 90;

Missed penalty: Ibrahimovic (S) 43.

Netherlands 5
Van Persie 13; Sneijder 61; Van Nistelrooy 73; Kuyt 78, 81;
Hungary 3
Rudolf 46; Gera 50, 75;

June 3 − Moldova vs Sweden; San Marino vs Finland

Group F

Israel 1
Ben Haim 59;
Georgia 0

June 4
Croatia vs Georgia
Greece vs Malta
Latvia vs Israel

September 2
Israel vs Greece
Malta vs Croatia
Georgia vs Latvia

Group G

June 4
Montenegro vs Bulgaria
England vs Switzerland

September 2
Wales vs Montenegro
Bulgaria vs England

Group H

June 4
Iceland vs Denmark
Portugal vs Norway

September 2
Norway vs Iceland
Cyprus vs Portugal

Group I

Czech Rep. 2
Barros 3; Kadlec 70;
Liechtenstein 0

Lithuania 1
Stankevicius 57;
Spain 3
Xavi 19; Kijanskas 70 og; Mata 83;

June 3 − Liechtenstein vs Lithuania