Spain beats Norway and Scotland to their second consecutive Euros

A second-half strike from Gavi in Oslo, Norway, on Sunday night, made him a hero in Scotland as his strike was enough to seal a 1-0 win for Spain, which automatically sends both teams to Euro 2024.

It is the first time since 1998 that Scotland will qualify automatically for a tournament and the second consecutive Euros they will qualify for after making it to Euro 2020. The Scots did the dirty job by winning their first five fixtures in the qualifier, and by the time they faced Spain on Thursday, they needed a draw to seal qualification.

However, a controversial 2-0 loss to Spain only made it a matter of when Scotland will seal qualification and not if. Sunday was the perfect time, and they did it without needing to kick a ball.

Spain traveled to Oslo with their destiny in their hands, and they grabbed it with both hands as Alvaro Morata found the back of the net in the 20th minute, only to be disallowed by the VAR. Even though both teams went into the break level, it took Gavi four minutes after the restart to score the opening goal.

Although the win denied Norway an automatic qualification, the Norwegians still stand a slim chance of qualification for their first European Championship since Euro 2000.

They can now only potentially qualify through playoffs despite the fact that there are two more games left in the group. They also must stay in third and hope Serbia qualify from Group G to stand a chance.

Other results on Sunday in the European qualifiers saw Wales boost their qualification chances by beating Croatia 2-1 in Cardiff.

Harry Wilson marked his 50th Wales appearance with a superb double as the Welsh team produced one of their best performances in years. 

Wales must now beat Armenia and Turkiye in their final two qualifiers in November to secure their place at next summer’s tournament in Germany at Croatia’s expense.

Daniel Ademiju Idowu