Spain crushes Slovakia and will collide in the second round of the Eurocup with Croatia

(Reuters) – Spain scored the biggest win of this European Championship on Wednesday and beat Slovakia 5-0 in their last Group E match, finishing second in the first phase and preparing to meet Croatia in Copenhagen in the round of 16.

The goals of Aymeric Laporte, Pablo Sarabia, Ferrán Torres and two own goals by the Slovaks Martin Dubravka and Juraj Kucka sealed Spain’s passage to the knockout phase.

Slovakia was eliminated, as four other teams that finished third had either more points or better goal difference.

Dubravka saved a penalty from Álvaro Morata at the start, but gave Spain the goal that opened the scoring when he tried to clear a shot from Sarabia that bounced off the crossbar, but what he did was tap it inside his own goal.

Laporte extended the lead at the end of the first half and Sarabia saw his good game rewarded with a goal taking advantage of a cross into the area from left-back Jordi Alba.

Later, Sarabia enabled newcomer Ferran Torres to score the fourth and Spain ended up forcing another Slovakian own goal minutes later, the work of Kucka.

At the same time, Sweden won Group E after beating Poland 3-2 with a double from Emil Forsberg, including the second-fastest goal in Eurocup history, and a goal from Viktor Claesson in injury time.

Sweden will face one of the third parties from Groups B, C or D (Finland, Ukraine or the Czech Republic) in Glasgow on June 29.