Euro 2016: Morata double leads Spain to easy win over Turkey

The Juventus forward helped Vicente del Bosque’s side beat Turkey 3-0 in Nice to book their spot in the last 16 in France.

The group now has Spain with six points followed by Croatia with four points while the Czech Republic have one point and Turkey no points at all, after two matches each.

The defending champions doubled their advantage within three minutes with Nolito turning goal scorer this time, taking advantage of a poor Mehmet Topal header to finish from close range.

Iniesta advanced, then produced his geometrically flawless pass to Jordi Alba, who touched it to Morata for a simple third. “We have to keep winning like this”.

“Turkey is a great team”, Del Bosque said Thursday.

“We know their qualities and how passionately they play for their country”, added Juanfran, who identified Barcelona’s Arda Turan as a key threat.

“I congratulate Spain. They’re a very important team, a special team”, Terim said.

The game’s first attempt on target came in the sixth minute when Morata spun outside the Turkish box and sent a low strike towards the bottom corner, but Volkan Babacan was on hand to make a smart save.

Since their disastrous outing at the last World Cup, the aura of invincibility which has cloaked Spain for the last eight years seems to have disappeared. Spain and Croatia had both won their opening games.

Turkey never looked like causing a surprise against Spain and Terim was full of praise for the titleholders, although he was not impressed with his side’s lack lustrous outing.

GOAL! Alvaro Morata scores again for Spain in the 48th minute.

Spain were able to ease up late on and Alba, David Silva and Fabregas were replaced by Cesar Azpilicueta, Bruno and Koke. “We played a great game against a hard team”. “I have never accepted this and I will never accept it”.

They should have been out of sight before substitute Skoda pulled one back, then Croatia’s “supporters” chose to fire flares on to the pitch, forcing the game to be halted as players pleaded with fans to calm down. They have not conceded even once in 600 minutes in the European Championships, the longest run in the tournament’s entire history.

Manuel “Nolito” Agudo scored one goal and made another for Alvaro Morata to give defending champion Spain a 2-0 lead over Turkey at halftime.

Turkey also faces a fine from UEFA after its supporters used flares and a smoke bomb in the stadium, and repeatedly threw firecrackers onto the field after the final whistle.

There were empty seats scattered around the Allianz Riviera from the start and thousands in the crowd departed well before the end as Spain closed out a routine win.

Spain have a 1-0 win over Czech Republic under their belts and it is hard to imagine any other scenario than the titleholders dominating possession and Turkey trying to snatch a goal on the break.