A hat-trick from Mikel Merino, a brace from Pedri and a Ferran Torres strike condemn Turkiye to a shellacking at residence.
Printed On 7 Sep 2025
Mikel Merino’s hat-trick helped Spain to thrash hosts Turkiye 6-0 in a World Cup qualifier because the European champions remained firmly in charge of Group E.
The hosts had no reply to Spain’s dominance on Sunday, undone again and again by the guests’ velocity and finesse, with a helpless Turkish defence torn aside on each counterattack.
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Spain lead the group with six factors from two matches, whereas Turkiye and Georgia sit on three factors from the identical. Georgia beat Bulgaria 3-0 earlier on Sunday.
The guests struck early as Pedri discovered the online within the sixth minute, slotting previous goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir.
Merino doubled Spain’s tally within the twenty second minute, ending off a slick passing transfer contained in the field with a easy unmarked strike previous the Turkish defence.
In first-half stoppage time, Merino struck once more, this time latching onto a pull-back and firing residence to provide Spain a three-goal cushion on the interval.
The onslaught resumed eight minutes into the second half when a Turkish nook backfired, Ferran Torres led a speedy counterattack and completed off a pointy alternate contained in the field to make it 4.
Brimming with confidence, Merino accomplished his hat-trick simply 4 minutes later, capping one other breakaway with a shocking left-footed roller from distance that flew into the highest nook for Spain’s fifth.
Pedri added one other one for Spain within the 62nd minute, arriving unmarked on the finish of one other swift break to fit residence his second for the night time.
Elsewhere within the UEFA qualifiers, four-time world champions Germany struggled for greater than an hour towards Northern Eire, earlier than scoring twice in three minutes within the second half to earn a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
With the rating degree at 1-1, a tap-in by substitute Nadiem Amiri within the 69th minute and a free kick from Florian Wirtz made certain of Germany’s first win in Group A.
It was additionally the primary victory for Julian Nagelmann’s workforce of their final 5 matches, and adopted their shock 2-0 loss to hosts Slovakia on Thursday – their first ever away defeat in a World Cup qualifier – of their opening group match.
In Sunday’s different Group A recreation, Slovakia eked out a 1-0 win away at Luxembourg.
In Brussels, in the meantime, Kevin De Bruyne underlined his talismanic function for Belgium with a shocking aim to interrupt the impasse and set his aspect on their solution to a snug 6-0 win over Kazakhstan of their World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
It was threatening to turn into a irritating night time on the Fixed Vanden Inventory Stadium for the Belgians earlier than the Forty second-minute strike, however after that, they had been capable of go on and register a snug victory with each De Bruyne and Jeremy Doku scoring twice.
Belgium have 10 factors from 4 video games in Group J, forward of Wales on aim distinction however trailing leaders North Macedonia, who beat Liechtenstein 5-0 earlier on Sunday by some extent. North Macedonia and Wales have performed 5 matches every, nevertheless.
Elsewhere, Memphis Depay set a brand new scoring file for the Netherlands as his double ensured they survived a scare in beating Lithuania 3-2 away of their qualifier on Sunday.
Two targets for the 31-year-old Depay took his nationwide workforce tally to 52, shifting forward of Robin van Persie’s earlier file, and placing the Netherlands on the prime of the Group G standings with 10 factors from 4 video games – forward of Poland on aim distinction after the Poles gained 3-1 at residence to Finland on Sunday.
