Preview: Spain vs. Cyprus - prediction, team news, lineups

Spain will be aiming to make it back-to-back wins in Group A when they continue their Euro 2024 qualification campaign with a home game against Cyprus on Tuesday night.

La Roja recorded a thumping 7-1 win over Georgia on Friday to move into second spot in the section, while Cyprus, who are bottom on zero points, were beaten 3-0 by Scotland on the same night.

Match preview

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There was pressure on Spain leading into Friday's clash with Georgia, as they had suffered a 2-0 defeat to Scotland in their last Euro 2024 qualifier.

La Roja's confidence would have grown courtesy of their UEFA Nations League success in June, though, and the national side were excellent against Georgia, recording a 7-1 victory, with Alvaro Morata scoring a hat-trick and Lamine Yamal coming up with a historic goal late on.

Yamal became Spain's youngest-ever player and goalscorer in the away success, and the result moved Luis de la Fuente's side onto six points in the section, two points ahead of third-placed Norway.

La Roja are still nine points behind leaders Scotland, but they have two games in hand on the team at the top of the section and also one match spare on Norway in third.

Spain won the European Championship in both 2008 and 2012, but they were eliminated in the last-16 stage of the 2016 competition before making the semi-finals of Euro 2020, losing to eventual winners Italy on penalties.

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Cyprus, meanwhile, will enter this match off the back of a 3-0 home defeat to Scotland, with the result leaving them at the bottom of the section on zero points from four matches.

A difficult qualifying campaign has seen them score just twice and concede 11, and it is very difficult to imagine them picking up enough points in their last four games to move into contention for the top two.

Cyprus have never qualified for the finals of a major tournament, but they have won seven matches in their last two European Championship qualification campaigns, so this has been a particularly poor section thus far.

Temur Ketsbaia's side will take on Norway and Georgia in their two qualification matches next month before finishing in the middle of November at home to Spain.

Cyprus have lost seven of their previous eight matches against Spain, but they did record a 3-2 victory when the two sides locked horns during qualification for Euro 2000.

Team News

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Marco Asensio and Dani Olmo have pulled out of the Spain squad due to injuries, which has led to Ferran Torres and Yeremy Pino being introduced to the camp ahead of this match.

As a result, there will be two changes to the front three from Friday's clash, with Yamal and Nico Williams likely to be the two players introduced into the side.

Yamal created two pieces of Spain history with his goal against Georgia, and the 16-year-old could now come in for his first international start.

There could also potentially be a change at left-back, with Alejandro Balde in line to replace Jose Gaya, but Fabian Ruiz should keep hold of his starting role in central midfield.

Cyprus, meanwhile, have not reported any fresh injury concerns following their three-goal loss to Scotland, but there are expected to be at least a couple of alterations.

Ioannis Pittas and Michalis Ioannou both made positive impressions off the bench last time out and could now come in for starts on Tuesday night.

Alex Gogic, who plays his club football for St Mirren, is also in contention to start, but the likes of Charalambos Kyriakou and Charalambos Charalambous should keep hold of their roles in the XI.

Spain possible starting lineup:
Simon; Carvajal, Le Normand, Laporte, Balde; Ruiz, Rodri, Gavi; Yamal, Asensio, N Williams

Cyprus possible starting lineup:
Mall; Karo, Laifis, Roberge; Antoniou, Kyriakou, Ioannou, Charalampous, Correia; Kastanos, Pittas

We say: Spain 3-0 Cyprus

Cyprus are struggling in Group A, and it is very difficult to back them to pick up a positive result here. Spain were seriously good against Georgia on Friday evening, and it would be a shock if they were unable to secure another three points in Tuesday's affair on home soil.

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