Gavi goal against Norway sees Spain and Scotland qualify for European Championship

MADRID: Gavi’s winning goal for Spain against Norway in a European Championship qualifier on Sunday will likely have been cheered as wildly in Glasgow as it was in Madrid.

The Barcelona midfielder’s strike at Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo secured a 1-0 win that means both Spain and Scotland have qualified for Euro 2024.

Gavi’s goal came in the 49th minute and ensured the three-time European champions will be at next year’s tournament in Germany when they will be among the favorites to lift the trophy for the first time since 2012.

Scotland might not harbor realistic ambitions of winning Euro 2024, but it has arguably exceeded expectations by qualifying from Group A. Indeed, until losing to Spain on Thursday, the Scots had made a 100 percent start to qualifying.

Scotland have now qualified for back-to-back Euros, having failed to reach the finals from 2000-2016. In Germany they will be aiming to advance from the group stages for the first time in their history.

Turkey also qualified with a 4-0 win against Latvia at the Konya Metropolitan Municipality Stadium, while Croatia made it back-to-back losses in Group D after a surprise 2-1 defeat to Wales.

CROATIA STRUGGLE

Less than a year after a third-place finish at the World Cup in Qatar, Croatia are making hard work of qualification for the European Championship.

The Croatians went into this latest batch of qualifiers atop Group D, with the chance to put daylight between them and Turkey. But a 1-0 loss to Turkey on Thursday has now been followed by defeat to Wales.

Even with stars like Luka Modric, Josko Gvardiol and Marcelo Brozovic in the team, Croatia were trailing 2-0 to goals from Harry Wilson in each half. Mario Pasalic halved the deficit, but it wasn’t enough to