Georgia 0-4 Spain: Oyarzabal double puts visitors on the brink of World Cup

Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice as he helped Spain to the brink of World Cup qualification with a 4-0 win over Georgia on Saturday.

Spain sit top of Group E after five games, with a three-point lead over Turkiye, who they face in their final match on Tuesday.

Ferran Torres saw an early shot blocked, but it resulted in an 11th-minute penalty as Giorgi Gocholeishvili was penalised for a handball – Oyarzabal coolly converted into the bottom-right corner.

Spain kept the pressure on from that point, with Alex Baena striking the foot of the left post from the edge of the D before Martin Zubimendi delicately lifted his effort over Giorgi Mamardashvili and into the roof of the net 22 minutes in.

Ferran made it 3-0 in the 34th minute, guiding Oyarzabal's low cross into an empty net from close range.

Mamardashvili made a stunning save to deny Oyarzabal on the stroke of half-time, but he got on the scoresheet again shortly after the hour, nodding Pedro Porro's cross back across goal and in off the post.

Spain attempted to add to their tally late on, with Mamardashvili smothering Borja Iglesias' poked effort, while Georgia almost profited from a late own goal, as Marcos Llorente's block hit the post before he then backheeled the deflection off the goal line.

Data Debrief: Oyarzabal proves reliable once more

No player has had more goal involvements for Spain under Luis de la Fuente than Oyarzabal, whose two goals and one assist in this game took him to 21 overall (14 goals, seven assists).

He had the joint-most shots for La Roja (three, all on target), and the joint-highest touches in the opposition box (seven), while he also got an assist with the only chance he created.

Spain dominated throughout, finishing with 3.51 expected goals (xG) from their 14 attempts to Georgia's 0.28 xG from six shots.