Defending European champions Spain have taken a 3-1 lead into half time in their Euro 2016 qualifier against Macedonia this evening.

The visitors made a bright start to the match, testing Iker Casillas inside the opening 10 minutes when Agim Ibraimi tried to curl the ball in from a free kick, but the keeper did enough to keep the ball out.

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Spain came close shortly after as Cesc Fabregas carved out some space inside the Macedonia box before attempting to pick out the top corner, but the ball swerved just wide.

The Euro 2012 champions did take the lead just 15 minutes in though when David Silva was brought down in the box, allowing Sergio Ramos to float the ball down the middle from the penalty spot.

Spain doubled their advantage two minutes later when Juanfran crossed the ball in for Paco Alcacer to turn in from close range, giving the striker a goal in his first competitive international.

The visitors pulled one back just before the half-hour mark as Juanfran brought Aleksandar Trajkovski down in the box, and Ibraimi calmly slotted the ball in from the spot.

The hosts pushed hard as they sought to restore their two-goal advantage, with Pedro and Alcacer both testing the Tome Pacovski, while Daniel Mojsov turned away a Silva effort.

The visitors defended hard, but Sergio Busquets managed to restore Spain's advantage just before the break as his shot was deflected into the back of the net.

Written by
Sian Cowper