SPAIN 7
Navarro 8, 69
Ruiz 47, 64; Sanchez 55
Lobete 73, 78
MALTA 1
Zammit 84
SPAIN
J. Agirrezabala (67 M. Angelo Moro); G. Rosas, A. Frances, U. Gonzalez (51 J. Pacheco), M. Sanchez, R. Sanchez, U. Vencedor, R. Navarro, B. Gil (57 J. Lobete), A. Ruiz (68 H. Novoa), R. Riquelme (67 S. Camello).
MALTA
A.Sylla; C. Zammit Lonardelli, A. Bradshaw, C. Gauci, K. Mohnani (53 K. Leonardi), S. Dimech, A. Attard (69 J. Attard), B. Sciberras (46 J. Ghio), M. Grima, J. Zammit, M. Veselji (68 A. Zammit).
Referee Juri Fischer (Estonia FA).
Yellow cards Mohnani, Zammit.
The Malta U-21’s selection ended its European qualifications commitments with a 7-1 defeat at the hands of Spain.
The match was held at the Estadio Municipal Alvarez Claro of Melilla, in Spain’s autonomous city situated on the Morocco-Spain border.
As expected, Spain cruised over Malta with their dominant possession-based football.
Yet, the Maltese side managed to have their say in this game thanks to a wonder goal from Andrea Zammit in the closing stages of the encounter that has drawn the plaudits from the spectators.
The defeat against Spain saw Malta finish their qualifying campaign fifth with six points to show for their efforts after recording two victories against Northern Ireland.
Russia, who were in Malta’s group, were automatically placed bottom following the UEFA ruling on Russian national teams after the Ukraine invasion.