Spain coach Vicente del Bosque made light of the difficult surface his side were forced to play on in Lithuania last night and hailed their work-rate and quality in securing another UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying victory.
Such was the state of the muddy, lumpy pitch, there was some uncertainty ahead of kick-off as to whether the match would go ahead. Xabi Alonso and Javi Martinez compared their evening's work to playing football "on the beach", while Andres Iniesta labelled the surface "impracticable".
However, Xavi and Juan Manuel Mata combined to make sure the world and European champions were not embarrassed in Kaunas. The 3-1 triumph extended Spain's 100 per cent start to their qualifying campaign and ensured they kept their lead at the top of Group I at six points over the Czech Republic, who beat Liechtenstein earlier.
"The pitch did not help anything," said Del Bosque. "[But] we should not pile on the agony on the field. We won and there were no injuries. Everything was good and we achieved our aim.
"We overcame adversity and an opponent who fought to the end. We have a good work ethic and we have quality. We are happy because we took a big step towards qualification. With the objective that we have, I think we did well. We were strong, we played in midfield, we sent direct balls when necessary. We were very good."
The victory rounded off another successful five days for Del Bosque's side after David Villa scored twice in Friday night's 2-1 victory over Czech Republic - eclipsing Raul as his country's all-time top goalscorer in the process.
"With these two victories, something big must happen for us to lose the top spot in the group," said Del Bosque. "In football you have to be careful. We have to play every game to win."
Xavi, embarking on his second century of appearances for Spain after winning his 100th cap against the Czechs, opened the scoring after 20 minutes.
But Marius Stankevicius levelled 11 minutes after the break and it needed the intervention of substitute Mata, who brought about an own goal from Tadas Kijanskas after 70 minutes and finished himself six minutes from time, to decide things in Spain's favour.
Such was the state of the muddy, lumpy pitch, there was some uncertainty ahead of kick-off as to whether the match would go ahead. Xabi Alonso and Javi Martinez compared their evening's work to playing football "on the beach", while Andres Iniesta labelled the surface "impracticable".However, Xavi and Juan Manuel Mata combined to make sure the world and European champions were not embarrassed in Kaunas. The 3-1 triumph extended Spain's 100 per cent start to their qualifying campaign and ensured they kept their lead at the top of Group I at six points over the Czech Republic, who beat Liechtenstein earlier.
"The pitch did not help anything," said Del Bosque. "[But] we should not pile on the agony on the field. We won and there were no injuries. Everything was good and we achieved our aim.
We overcame adversity and an opponent who fought to the end. We have a good work ethic and we have quality. We are happy because we took a big step towards qualification.
Vicente del Bosque, Spain coach
The victory rounded off another successful five days for Del Bosque's side after David Villa scored twice in Friday night's 2-1 victory over Czech Republic - eclipsing Raul as his country's all-time top goalscorer in the process.
"With these two victories, something big must happen for us to lose the top spot in the group," said Del Bosque. "In football you have to be careful. We have to play every game to win."
Xavi, embarking on his second century of appearances for Spain after winning his 100th cap against the Czechs, opened the scoring after 20 minutes.
But Marius Stankevicius levelled 11 minutes after the break and it needed the intervention of substitute Mata, who brought about an own goal from Tadas Kijanskas after 70 minutes and finished himself six minutes from time, to decide things in Spain's favour.
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