Group C leaders, Slovakia, travel to the Estadio Nuevo Carlos Tartiere to take on Spain in a big clash with just three more matches in European Championships qualification remaining. 

Form

Jan Kozák’s side have a three point lead over the continental giants and this match should be a huge test to see just how good this squad actually are. The Slovak manager took over in July 2013 and to start his reign, there were a lot of 1-1 and 0-0 draws.

Then in November of that year, they started to go on their winning streak. In fact, since their 0-2 victory over Poland in Poland, Slovakia has only lost once in their last 13 matches. This will be their biggest test to date, on the road as they already defeated Spain in October, and if Slovakia can get a win here, they will be well on their way to gaining the top spot in the group.

Ever since the World Cup, Spain’s form has been very up and down. This Spanish team does well against the minnows of their qualification group, but in friendlies against the bigger nations – France, Netherlands, and Germany – they struggle.

Before their loss to Slovakia, this Spanish side had gone 36 matches without a loss in the qualification stages leading up to major tournaments. Vincent Del Bosque will hope to avenge their defeat and level things up at the top of the group.

Key Players

For Spain, you could easily pick the whole entire squad here, but David Silva is the main man of the moment. The 29-year-old has been lighting up the Premier League thus far, scoring the opening goal for Manchester City and assisting four other times in the first four weeks of the season. Most of the creativity for this Spanish squad will come through this man.

It is not hard at all to pick out Slovakia’s key man. He plays is football full-time in the Italian topflight for Napoli. This, of course, is none other than Marek Hamsik. His club has not gotten off to the best of starts. He started off the new campaign brightly, scoring in the third minute, only to see Napoli lose 2-1 to Sassuolo.

Team News

There are five footballers out suspended for the visitors. Juraj Kucka, Adam Zrelak, Michal Siplak, Andrej Kadlec, and the ever reliable Martin Skrtel.

Here is how they will most likely line-up: Kozacik, Pekarik, Hubocan, Salata, Svento, Gyomber, Pecovsky, Hamsik, Weiss, Stoch, Nemec

Alvaro Morata is injured, while Aritz Aduriz was not named for this round of qualifiers. Arsenal youngster, Hector Bellerin has been named for the first time in his career, but will most likely not be starting.

Spain’s starting eleven: De Gea, Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Almba, Busquets, Iniesta, Koke, Silva, Pedro, Costa

This will most likely be a tight affair with Slovakia wanting to sit back and attack Spain on the counter. The Spaniards should come out on top, winning by just one goal.