Slovakia scored the biggest upset so far in the 2016 European Championship qualifier after escaping with a 2-1 win against defending champion Spain on Thursday at Stadion MSK Zilina in Slovakia.
Juraj Jucka gave Slovakia an early lead with a goal in the 17th minute, helping his team control the pace of the match from then on.
Paco Alcalcer scored an equalizer in the 82nd minute, but Slovakia took the lead again after Miroslav Stoch found the back of the net in the 87th minute to escape with the huge upset win.
With the win, Slovakia have now secured six points after also defeating Ukraine, 1-0, in their Euro 2016 Qualifier opener last month, putting them in a good position to finish on top of their group.
Spain, on the other hand, failed to duplicate their 5-1 win over Macedonia last month with coach Vicente Del Bosque admitting that they were surprised by Slovakia in the match.
"We did not expect this," Del Bosque said of losing to Slovakia via ESPN FC. "It is our first defeat in 28 qualifying games. It is more good by them than bad by us. They made it difficult for us. We had patience to move the ball around, but we were not accurate in front of goal and their keeper played well."
Del Bosque also defended his goalkeeper Iker Casillas and striker Diego Costa, saying that both stars gave their best effort, but Slovakia were simply superior on Thursday.
"Nobody likes to lose, but nobody can say we lacked effort or attitude today," said Del Bosque, who expressed confidence that they will still finish on top of Group C. "We lost due to circumstances of football. The counter-attack for the second goal was very good. We have to say they played some good football."
Check out the highlights of the Spain-Slovakia match below along with the complete results of Thursday's matches.
- Belarus 0 - 2 Ukraine
- Macedonia 3 - 2 Luxembourg
- Slovakia 2 - 1 Spain
- England 5 - 0 San Marino
- Lithuania 1 - 0 Estonia
- Slovenia 1 - 0 Switzerland
- Liechtenstein 0 - 0 Montenegro
- Moldova 1 - 2 Austria
- Sweden 1 - 1 Russia
