Spain secured their place at next year's FIFA World Cup finals after seeing off Estonia in Merida with goals from Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Juan Manuel Mata.
With Bosnia-Herzegovina being held by Turkey earlier in the evening, Spain knew a victory over Estonia would be enough to guarantee themselves top spot in Group 5. And the European champions made no mistake as they continued their 100 per cent record in qualifying with an eighth win in eight games.
Unlike Saturday's impressive trouncing of Belgium, it was more of a workmanlike display from Spain tonight and although Fabregas gave the hosts a 33rd-minute lead, Vicente del Bosque's men had to wait until the final ten minutes to wrap up the game thanks to efforts from substitutes Cazorla and Mata.
The final scoreline may have been comfortable enough, but Spain took a while to get going and might easily have found themselves trailing inside the opening 20 minutes as Estonia created some problems for their hosts.
Tarmo Kink had the best chance in the 17th minute but was unable to keep his header down after Konstantin Vassiljev's superb cross from the left had cleared Carlos Marchena and found Estonia's number nine unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.
Soon after that Sergei Zenjov put another opportunity wide at the near post after Estonia had again done well out wide. Those were a couple of uncomfortable moments for Spain, but the hosts awoke from their slumber and were soon creating chances of their own.
Strike duo David Villa and Fernando Torres both fired over from decent openings, before the latter was denied by Sergei Pareiko after some Xavi magic had put the Liverpool hitman through on goal. Torres then saw another effort deflected behind for a corner before Fabregas broke the deadlock just after the half-hour mark.
With Bosnia-Herzegovina being held by Turkey earlier in the evening, Spain knew a victory over Estonia would be enough to guarantee themselves top spot in Group 5. And the European champions made no mistake as they continued their 100 per cent record in qualifying with an eighth win in eight games.
Unlike Saturday's impressive trouncing of Belgium, it was more of a workmanlike display from Spain tonight and although Fabregas gave the hosts a 33rd-minute lead, Vicente del Bosque's men had to wait until the final ten minutes to wrap up the game thanks to efforts from substitutes Cazorla and Mata.
The final scoreline may have been comfortable enough, but Spain took a while to get going and might easily have found themselves trailing inside the opening 20 minutes as Estonia created some problems for their hosts.
Tarmo Kink had the best chance in the 17th minute but was unable to keep his header down after Konstantin Vassiljev's superb cross from the left had cleared Carlos Marchena and found Estonia's number nine unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box.
Soon after that Sergei Zenjov put another opportunity wide at the near post after Estonia had again done well out wide. Those were a couple of uncomfortable moments for Spain, but the hosts awoke from their slumber and were soon creating chances of their own.
Strike duo David Villa and Fernando Torres both fired over from decent openings, before the latter was denied by Sergei Pareiko after some Xavi magic had put the Liverpool hitman through on goal. Torres then saw another effort deflected behind for a corner before Fabregas broke the deadlock just after the half-hour mark.
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