Five-star Spain Crush Slovakia 5-0 to Reach Last 16

*Sweden end Poland adventure in five-goal thriller

Spain earned their first win at Euro 2020 in style yesterday as they thrashed Slovakia to progress as Group E runners-up and set up a last-16 tie with Croatia.

Luis Enrique’s side head into the knockout stages on the back of their best attacking display of the tournament, proving far too good for a seriously below-par Slovakia.

Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres all scored after a bizarre own goal from Newcastle’s Martin Dubravka broke the deadlock at La Cartuja Stadium in Seville.

The Slovakia goalkeeper, who earlier saved a penalty from Alvaro Morata, punched the ball into his own net after Sarabia’s effort hit the crossbar and looped into the air.

Juraj Kucka inadvertently completed the rout for Spain, bundling the ball over his own line from close range.

Spain’s meeting with Croatia will take place in Copenhagen on Monday at 17:00 BST, while Slovakia are out.

In the group’s other game, substitute Viktor Claesson scored a 93rd-minute winner for Sweden to knock Poland, who had come back from 2-0 down, out of Euro 2020.

Sweden netted their first goal from open play at the tournament just 82 seconds into their final Group E game following Emil Forsberg’s composed angled finish in St Petersburg.

The RB Leipzig midfielder doubled the lead with a first-time shot – his third goal at the tournament – before Robert Lewandowski, who had earlier missed a golden chance, produced a quality arrowed finish to give Poland hope.

Lewandowski hit an 84th-minute equaliser to draw Poland, who needed to win to advance, level but they were undone by Claesson’s late winner.

In a captivating game, Poland captain Lewandowski was guilty of an incredible miss at 0-0.

After heading against the underside of the bar from a corner, the prolific Bayern Munich forward’s follow up header from the rebound struck the bar from just two yards out.

Sweden will now prepare for a last-16 tie against Finland or Ukraine at Glasgow’s Hampden Park on 29 June.

When Poland replaced manager Jerzy Brzeczek with Portuguese Paulo Sousa in January, the reasoning from the Polish FA was that they wanted to see a more attacking style to get the best out of forward Lewandowski.

The 32-year-old, who scored 41 times in the Bundesliga in 2020-21, departs the tournament having netted three goals. It would have been four but for his incredible 17th-minute miss.

After his initial downward header bounced up and hit the underside of the bar, it rebounded back into Lewandowski’s path only for him to hit the woodwork again when it looked easier to score.

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