Ansu Fati made history on his first start and Sergio Ramos scored twice as Spain coasted to a 4-0 victory over Ukraine in Monday’s (AEST) UEFA Nations League contest in Madrid.
Barcelona star Fati, who made his senior international debut off the bench in Thursday’s 1-1 draw with Germany, made it 3-0 in fine fashion prior to half-time at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano to become Spain’s youngest goalscorer at 17 years and 311 days old.
Fati had earlier won the penalty from which Ramos opened the scoring and the Real Madrid great doubled the lead at a familiar venue, which is part of Los Blancos’ Valdebebas training complex.
Fati’s quick feet proved too much for Sergey Krivtsov in just the third minute, with Andriy Pyatov unable to stop Ramos’ penalty finding the bottom-left corner.
The Barca forward placed an effort just past the right post after tormenting Oleksandr Tymchyk on the left flank and had an overhead-kick blocked by Mykola Matvyenko in a goal-mouth scramble.
Ramos deservedly doubled the lead with a fine looping header from Dani Olmo’s cross before Fati brilliantly jinked inside Ihor Kharatin and fired into the bottom-right corner off the post.
Olmo, also making a first international start, drew a smart stop from Pyatov just after the hour, while Gerard Moreno had the ball in the back of the net only to be flagged offside.
Pyatov again kept the scoreline down with a fine fingertip save from Oscar Rodriguez’s dipping effort but could do nothing to prevent new Manchester City winger Torres placing a side-footed volley into the bottom-right corner.
What’s next?
Spain prepare for their next Nations League assignment with a friendly against Portugal on October 7, while Ukraine host Germany in their third Group A4 encounter.
