Spain 3-1 Scotland
Euro 2012 Qualifiers
Group Stages
Tue 11th October 2011
20:45 (19:45 UK)
Estadio Jose Rico Perez, Alicante (A)
Att: 24,896
Goodwillie(Pen 66)
A McGregor
A Hutton
G Caldwell
C Berra
P Bardsley
D Fletcher(C) (D Cowie 85)
J Morrison
B Bannan (D Goodwillie 63)
C Adam (J Forrest 63)
S Naismith
C Mackail-Smith
Manager:
Craig Levein
FIFA Ranking: 52
Silva(6, 44)
Villa(54)
V Valdes
S Ramos
C Puyol (A Arbeloa 46)
G Pique
J Alba
Xavi (F Llorente 64)
S Busquets
D Silva (Thiago 55)
S Cazorla
D Villa
Pedro
FIFA Ranking: 1
Key: Goals Missed Penalty Red Card
| 1 | Allan McGregor (Rangers) | (18 Caps) | Age: 29 | ||
| 2 | Alan Hutton (Aston Villa) | (23 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 3 | Phil Bardsley (Sunderland) | (10 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 4 | Christophe Berra (Wolves) | (17 Caps) | Age: 26 | ||
| 5 | Gary Caldwell (Wigan Athletic) | (45 Caps) | Age: 29 | ||
| 6 | Charlie Adam (Liverpool) | (15 Caps) | Age: 25 | ||
| 7 | Darren Fletcher (Manchester Utd) Captain |  |
(57 Caps) | Age: 27 | |
| 8 | James Morrison (West Bromwich Albion) | |
(18 Caps) | Age: 25 | |
| 9 | Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) | (4 Caps) | Age: 27 | ||
| 10 | Barry Bannan (Aston Villa) | (9 Caps) | Age: 21 | ||
| 11 | Steven Naismith (Rangers) | (15 Caps) | Age: 25 | ||
| 14 | Don Cowie (Cardiff City) | (8 Caps) | Age: 28 | ||
| (Replaced Darren Fletcher 85 min) | |||||
| 16 | James Forrest (Celtic) | (4 Caps) | Age: 20 | ||
| (Replaced Charlie Adam 63 min) | |||||
| 17 | David Goodwillie (Blackburn Rovers) | |
 |
(3 Caps) | Age: 22 |
| (Replaced Barry Bannan 63 min) | |||||
Yellow Card  Red Card  Double Booking Goals Scored  Penalty Save |
|||||
1 Allan McGregor
Euro 2012 Qualifiers
Group Stages
Tue 11th October 2011
20:45 (19:45 UK)
Estadio Jose Rico Perez, Alicante (A)
Att: 24,896
Scotland went into their final qualifying match knowing that they had to at least match the Czech Republic's score away to Lithuania to qualify for the play-offs. Craig Levein named an unchanged team from the one that defeated Liechtenstein three days earlier.
Things did not start well as after only five minutes Czech Republic had gone 1-0 up on Lithuania and just as that news filtered through, Spain took the lead. Jordi Alba crossed the ball in from the left to David Silva who put the ball through McGregor's legs from 10 yards. A few minutes later Scotland had the chance to level the scores when a Barry Bannan cross was headed wide by Naismith. McGregor had to save a deflected shot from Pedro, before Fletcher had a great chance at the other end that he put over the bar after a flick on by Naismith. Five minutes before the break McGregor pulled off a great save from a low shot by Cazorla. Spain's pressure paid off just before half time when Silva played a one-two with Pedro before hitting a low shot past McGregor to give Spain a 2-0 lead. Nine minutes into the second half Spain end the game when Villa gets on the end of a Silva pass to hit a low shot past McGregor and make it 3-0. Ten minutes later Craig Mackail-Smith gets fouled in the box by keeper Victor Valdes and the referee points to the penalty spot. Up steps substitute David Goodwillie to put the ball in the top corner of the net and make it 3-1. Five minutes later Scotland had a great chance but Goodwillie went for glory and shot over instead of passing to Mackail-Smith who just had to tap it into the net. With five minutes remaining Cazorla put the ball over the bar from close range after some poor defending from Scotland. The Ref then blew his whistle to end the match and end Scotland's qualifying campaign as Czech Republic had defeated Lithuania 4-1, and they would go into the play-offs.