Spain, fresh from discovering that England had pipped them to top spot in UEFA Nations League Group A4, left it late to scrape past Bosnia and Herzegovina in an international friendly in Las Palmas, although it was another night to forget for Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata who missed an open goal.
The incident came when the game was still goalless as Spain roared forward in search of the breakthrough, and it should have come on the hour mark as while Marco Asensio’s low left-footed shot was palmed away from goal, it fell into straight into the path of the in-rushing Morata.
With the goal gaping, the Spaniard - all of four-yards out - lacked the predatory instinct as he couldn’t quite react quick enough to the rebound, getting his feet muddled up as he awkwardly bobbled the ball wide of the post, much to the despair of his teammates.
In the end Morata’s blushes were spared as Spain avoided a third-straight game without a win after Brais Mendez netted the only goal of the game 12 minutes from time.
Chelsea fans will be hoping Morata puts the incident behind him ahead of Saturday’s crunch top-flight clash away to top-four rivals Tottenham, who are currently one point and one place behind Maurizio Sarri’s men in the table.
In fairness, Morata’s club form has actually been decent of late, netting three goals in his last three Premier League matches, including a brace against Crystal Palace.
The former Real Madrid striker has five league goals to his name, netting a goal every 139 minutes, a better ratio than the likes of Harry Kane, Mo Salah, Alexandre Lacazette, and Sadio Mane.