Morata scores twice to drive Spain past Turkey 3-0 with knockout berth

New recruits Alvaro Morata and Nolito collected three goals to help defending champion Spain whitewash Turkey 3-0 here on Friday night and advance to the knockout stage of EURO 2016 following host France and Italy.

Morata, the 23-year-old Juventus forward, opened the scoring in the 34th minute when Spain were looking for a scorer to break the ice. Morata ran into the perfect space in the box and glanced the header into the right corner.

Just after three minutes, Celta forward Nolito caught a looping ball switched off by a Turkish defender and scored with a close-range shot.

In the 48th minute, a brilliant team work between Jordi Alba and Andres Iniesta gave Morata the chance to fire into an empty net.

So far, Morata was the only player scoring more than once in a single match of the EURO 2016.

However, the Man of the Match was Iniesta who made majestic performance in midfield. He completed 93 passes, 40 of them coming in the final third. He also created three chances for his team-mates.

It was no surprise for Iniesta to be the second Man of the Match award in a row following French midfielder Dirmitri Payet. His through ball to Alba for the third goal was world class as he maintained his exceptionally high standards against Turkey.

Spain maintained a 52-year unbeaten run against Turkey. Vicente del Bosque's men won both meetings in 2010 World Cup qualifying. Turkey's lone victory was a 1-0 win in 1954 World Cup qualifying.

Spain struggled against the stern Czech Republic defense in their EURO 2016 Group D opener but found no such troubles on Friday. It was a comfortable evening for the reigning champions.

The statistics showed that Spain dominated the game with 57 percent ball possession, 18 attempts, 8 on targets and 619 passes completed. Turkey only made 8 attempts, none on target and completed 359 passes. Endit