So the final scores, and the headlines. In Group C, Spain have qualified. Slovakia could have made it tonight as well, but lost at home to Belarus and now must scrap for an automatic spot with Ukraine. Slovakia are still favourites, though: they face Luxembourg on the final day, while Ukraine take on Spain. In Group E, England beat Estonia 2-0 to keep up their bid to qualify with a 100 percent record. The Swiss join them, after Slovenia were pegged back by Lithuania. And in Group G, Russia remain ahead of Sweden in the race for second, but both are guaranteed at least a play-off place as Montenegro were beaten at the death by Austria. Night!
Group C: Macedonia 0-2 Ukraine, Slovakia 0-1 Belarus, Spain 4-0 Luxembourg.
Group E: England 2-0 Estonia, Slovenia 1-1 Lithuania, Switzerland 7-0 San Marino.
Group G: Liechtenstein 0-2 Sweden, Moldova 1-2 Russia, Montenegro 2-3 Austria.
And that’s your lot in Slovenia! It finishes 1-1 with Lithuania, and that result means the Swiss have made it to Euro 2016.
All the matches are full time, bar one. And it’s a crucial one: Slovenia v Lithuania. Unless Slovenia can force a winner, Switzerland are through to Euro 2016. Meanwhile Spain have qualified, but Slovakia passed up their chance to make it themselves, crashing at home to Belarus. Ukraine still have a chance of avoiding the play-offs.
Group C: Macedonia 0-2 Ukraine, Slovakia 0-1 Belarus, Spain 4-0 Luxembourg.
Group E: England 2-0 Estonia, Slovenia 1-1 Lithuania, Switzerland 7-0 San Marino.
Group G: Liechtenstein 0-2 Sweden, Moldova 1-2 Russia, Montenegro 2-3 Austria.
GOAL! Montenegro 2-3 Austria (Sabitzer 90)
Marcel Sabitzer lashes home from the end of the area, and makes certain of Montenegro’s elimination. That’s eight wins in a row in this group for Austria.
GOAL! Macedonia 0-2 Ukraine (Kravets 87)
Artem Kravets powers down the left and slips the ball into the bottom-left corner. Think Steve Heighway’s goal at the 1971 FA Cup final, only his team’s going to win.
GOAL! Switzerland 7-0 San Marino (Derdiyok 89)
Eren Derdiyok heads home from close range, the ball jangling off Aldo Simoncini’s trouser arrangement as it crosses the line. Injury to insult.
GOAL! Moldova 1-2 Russia (Cebotaru 85)
Eugeniu Cebotaru crashes in a close-range header to rattle Russia’s nerves a wee bit.
GOAL! Spain 4-0 Luxembourg (Cazorla 85)
The Arsenal man romps down the inside-right channel and belts a low shot into the bottom left. This is slightly flattering to Spain, who were dreadful for the most part this evening. But class will out.
GOAL! Montenegro 2-2 Austria (Arnautovic 81)
Marko Arnautovic may just have put paid to Montenegro’s hopes.
GOAL! Moldova 0-2 Russia (Dzjuba 79)
Artem Dzjuba strengthens Russia’s grip on second spot in their group.
GOAL! Slovenia 1-1 Lithuania (Novikovas 79 pen)
A penalty for handball, and Arvydas Novikovas slams it into the top left! That will see the Swiss through to France!
GOAL! Switzerland 6-0 San Marino 0 (Embolo 80 pen)
A third penalty for Switzerland, and a third separate scorer. And they could be qualifying tonight, because...
GOAL! Spain 3-0 Luxembourg (Alcacer 80)
A slightly farcical goal this. Nolito sliderules a gorgeous pass down the inside-left channel to release Alba, who overruns the ball. The keeper Joubert should gather, but parries the ball straight into Alba’s knees. The ball looks like flying out of play to the left of goal, but Alba hooks it into the centre for the sub to get his second of the evening. Spain are going to the Euros in style !
GOAL! Switzerland 5-0 San Marino (Kasami 75)
Pajtim Kasami’s turn now, as the Swiss begin to run riot.
Alyaksandr Martynovich of Belarus has seen red for two bookable offences, which should give hope to Slovakia. They’re still trailing 1-0, but a couple of late goals against ten men would send them to France.
GOAL! Switzerland 4-0 San Marino (Djourou 72 pen)
The goals are positively flying in now. Johan Djourou makes it four for the Swiss.
GOAL! Montenegro 2-1 Austria (Beqiraj 68)
Fatos Beqiraj reclaims the lead for Montenegro.
GOAL! Spain 2-0 Luxembourg (Alcacer 67)
The substitute Paco Alcacer makes the scoreline slightly less embarrassing for the below-par European champions. But everything in context. They’re heading to France! Woo!
GOAL! Switzerland 3-0 San Marino (Mehmedi 65)
Yes well this was always bound to happen wasn’t it.
GOAL! FYR Macedonia 0 Ukraine 1 (Seleznyov 59 pen)
With Belarus beating Slovakia, this is suddenly looking much more promising for Ukraine. They’ll draw level on points with Slovakia in second place, though they’ll need to beat Spain in their final game, while the Slovaks go to Luxembourg. Still, the way things are going in Spain, nothing’s a certainty.
GOAL! Moldova 0 Russia 1 (Ignashevich 59)
Sergei Ignashevich reignites Russia’s faltering bid for the automatic second spot.
GOAL! Montenegro 1 Austria 1 (Janko 55)
Marc Janko levels it up.
Switzerland 2-0 San Marino (Inler 55 pen)
And another! The Swiss now score a second, Gokhan Inler from the penalty spot. They remain in the box seat for the second automatic qualification spot in Group E, though if Lithuania can come back against Slovenia to force a draw, everyone will be dancing on the streets of Zurich tonight!
[Correction and clarification: Not everyone will be dancing on the streets of Zurich tonight]
GOAL! Liechtenstein 0-2 Sweden (Ibrahimovic 55)
Zlatan makes it two for the Swedes, who are the first side to crash past the one-goal mark on this exciting evening. “Of course Derek Smalls is the daddy of them all,” writes Simon McMahon. Of course. “Especially in his Shrewsbury Town top. ‘Do you have any artificial plates or limbs?’ ‘Not really, no.’” Sadly I can’t find a picture of the Tap bassist in his early 80s Shrewsbury top, so this one of an incredulous Ian Faith, sans cricket bat, will have to do.
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Kevin Malget and Pedro square up to each other like schoolchildren. Malget considers putting the nut on his opponent, but decides against following through, just in time. Both men go in the book for preposterousness.
Spain have been woefully incoherent tonight. Luxembourg have their tails up to the extent that Aurélien Joachim has just tried to beat Iker Casillas from 45 yards. He ghosted past two players out on the left to give himself the space, too. It wasn’t far away, and for the second time tonight, had a Luxembourg shot been on target, I’m not sure the keeper was getting to it.
All the second halves are underway. Pedro has just lashed a good chance from the left-hand corner of the six-yard box into the stand behind. “The main interest in the Spain game is the crowd’s reaction to Pique,” opines Geoffrey Vivian. “He’s being booed and cheered by different sections of the crowd for playing for Barça/supporting Catalan self-determination. Quite laughable nonsense which the player seems to rise above. Secondly, why are you talking about Level 42 and this Pino chap when you could be talking about Bootsy Collins and Larry Graham? Hmm?” Because I assumed it had long been established that Lazy Larry adds bottom to your fun. What else is left to say?
So here are your rather binary half-time scores. England, incidentally, scored just before the whistle at Wembley, Ross Barkley setting up Theo Walcott. That 100% qualifying record is ever so close now.
Group C: Macedonia 0-0 Ukraine, Slovakia 0-1 Belarus, Spain 1-0 Luxembourg.
Group E: England 1-0 Estonia, Slovenia 1-0 Lithuania, Switzerland 1-0 San Marino.
Group G: Liechtenstein 0-1 Sweden, Moldova 0-0 Russia, Montenegro 1-0 Austria.
GOAL! Slovenia 1-0 Lithuania (Birsa 45 pen)
Valter Birsa slides a spot kick awarded for hand ball into the bottom-left corner of the goal. Icy cool. And it means they’re still on Switzerland’s shoulder in the race for second place behind England in Group E.
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GOAL! Spain 1-0 Luxembourg (Cazorla 42)
The Arsenal man makes up for his awful miss earlier. Juanfran reaches a ball that looks like going out of play down the right, hooking it back to Pedro, on the right-hand edge of the box. His shot is parried by the keeper Jonathan Joubert, but the ball squirts onto the penalty spot, and Cazorla doesn’t make the same mistake from the same position twice. Bang! It’s in, and as things stand, Spain are on their way to the finals.
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GOAL! Slovakia 0-1 Belarus (Dragun 34)
Stanislav Dragun opens the scoring here. Meanwhile the increasingly frustrated European champions Spain are still being held at home to Luxembourg. And indeed they weren’t too far from going behind there, Stefano Bensi cutting in from the left and curling one towards the top right. It wasn’t far wide, and Iker Casillas, at full stretch, might not have got there had it been on target.
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More injury woes for Spain. Morata has been stretchered off, in some pain, Alcacer coming on as his replacement.
GOAL! Montenegro 1-0 Austria (Vucinic 32)
Mirko Vucinic has given Montenegro the lead against already-qualified Austria. And they’re well on top right now. Fatos Bećiraj nearly made it two in double-quick time, but his shot from close range, just to the left of the target, was parried clear by Robert Almer.
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Spain make it 2-2 in corners. And then they go 3-2 up. Still no goal, though, Morata eventually squirting a header wide left. By all accounts that’s now 223 corners taken by Spain since they last scored from one, a run that stretches back 33 games. They’re turning into the Liverpool side from the 1980s, who were so cornerphobic they inspired a fanzine called Another Wasted Corner. I’ve gone off piste again. Sorry.
Actually, Pino Palladino’s USP was his fretless bass, wasn’t it. No slap-bass shenanigans from him. There was a reason Paul Young got to number one, while Level 42 didn’t.
GOAL! Liechtenstein 0-1 Sweden (Berg 18)
Marcus Berg opens the scoring for the Swedes. Meanwhile in Spain, Morata has just rolled the ball to Cazorla, who is free on the penalty spot. He must score, but instead smashes the ball against the crossbar with the sort of slap-bass twang not heard since the 1980s, when Level 42 and Pino Palladino freely roamed the earth.
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GOAL! Switzerland 1-0 San Marino (Lang 17)
The first goal of the evening took a while to arrive, and it’s a minnow who concedes it. Not Luxembourg, though; they’re holding out. The Swiss take a wholly expected lead against San Marino, Michael Lang their man.
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No man in world football looks better in a cardigan than Juan Mata. He’s also not half bad at bringing down long balls with an insouciant waft of the boot. He takes down a raking Fabregas pass along the right, and flicks inside for Morata. But the Juve striker can’t connect.
Spain have only played Luxembourg one time previously. A 4-0 win earlier in this group, David Silva, Paco Alcácer, Diego Costa and Juan Bernat with the goals in Luxembourg. So the visitors are 40-1 against this evening against the reigning European champions. They’re on the front foot now, though, winning a corner, Christopher Martins winning a header on the penalty spot and forcing Juanfran into a hurried clearance on the left-hand corner of the six-yard box. A second corner is easily dealt with by Spain, but that could have been a shock early lead for the minnows.
Manchester City aren’t having much luck at the moment. Sergio Aguero pulled his hamstring playing for Argentina against Ecuador, and now David Silva is limping around in a very ginger manner. Not certain that he’ll be able to continue. Everyone frowning and looking concerned. A shake of the head from the wee man. He was clattered by Lars Gerson, who doesn’t quite have the skill of his famous Brazilian namesake, though on the other hand almost certainly smokes fewer tabs. Juan Mata comes on in his stead.
A lively start for Spain, pretty much as you’d expect against Luxembourg. Álvaro Morata has scampered down the right wing a couple of times to dangerous effect, though Pedro, hovering around in the middle, hasn’t been able to reach either of his crosses. Quite an atmosphere at the Estadio Municipal Las Gaunas in Logrono.
And we’re off! Everywhere except in Macedonia. Someone always has to be different. They’re still faffing around with pennants and the like.
Not long to kick-off now.
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The teams are in!
GROUP C
FYR Macedonia: Pacovski, Brdarovski, Sikov, Ristevski, Zuta, Petrovic, Ibraimi, Alimi, Hasani, Askovski, Ilijoski.
Subs: Dimitrievski, Mojsov, Trickovski, Trajkovski, Ristovski, Nestoroski, Stjepanovic, Cikarski, Abdurahimi, Ivanovski, Nilsson.
Ukraine: Pyatov, Fedetskiy, Khacheridi, Rakitskiy, Shevchuk, Rybalka, Sydorchuk, Rotan, Yarmolenko, Konoplyanka, Seleznyov.
Subs: Boyko, Kamenyuka, Tymoschuk, Kucher, Stepanenko, Pylyavskyi, Gusev, Malinovsky, Budkivskiy, Karavayev, Kravets, Shevchenko.
Referee: Ovidiu Alin Hategan (Romania)
Slovakia: Kozacik, Hubocan, Skrtel, Salata, Svento, Mak, Kucka, Pecovsky, Weiss, Hamsik, Duris.
Subs: Mucha, Tesak, Durica, Sabo, Gregus, Duda, Sestak, Stoch, Nemec, Hrosovsky, Jakubko, Novota.
Belarus: Gorbunov, Palyakow, Martynovich, Sivakov, Bordachev, Stasevich, Dragun, Bressan, Nekhaychik, Gordeichuk, Signevich.
Subs: Zhevnov, Politevich, Balanovich, Putsila, Kislyak, Valadzko, Filipenko, Chernik.
Referee: Huseyin Gocek (Turkey)
Spain: Casillas, Juanfran, Bartra, Pique, Jordi Alba, Cazorla, Busquets, Fabregas, Silva, Morata, Pedro.
Subs: De Gea, Azpilicueta, San Jose, Thiago, Alcacer, Mata, Etxeita, Nacho, Mario, Nolito, Isco, Sergio Rico.
Luxembourg: Joubert, Delgado, Malget, Chanot, Gerson, Jans, Bensi, Mutsch, Payal, Martins Pereira, Joachim.
Subs: Moris, Janisch, Schnell, Da Mota Alves, Martino, Thill, Turpel, Deville, Luisi, Amodio.
Referee: Sebastian Delferiere (Belgium)
GROUP E
England v Estonia: Clickity click.
Slovenia: Handanovic, Struna, Ilic, Cesar, Jokic, Krhin, Kurtic, Birsa, Ilicic, Lazarevic, Beric.
Subs: Oblak, Krajnc, Trajkovski, Samardzic, Ljubijankic, Kirm, Rotman, Pecnik, Skubic, Matavz, Vidmar.
Lithuania: Zubas, Freidgeimas, Zaliukas, Klimavicius, Slavickas, Cernych, Panka, Zulpa, Novikovas, Spalvis, Slivka.
Subs: Cerniauskas, Mikuckis, Vaitkunas, Cesnauskis, Matulevicius, Petravicius, Pilibaitis, Kuklys, Veliulis, Baravykas, Andriuskevicius, Dziugas Bartkus.
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland)
Switzerland: Burki, Lang, Schar, Djourou, Rodriguez, Embolo, Zuffi, Inler, Kasami, Mehmedi, Drmic.
Subs: Hitz, Moubandje, Klose, Lustenberger, Widmer, Derdiyok, Xhaka, Steffen, Dzemaili, Shaqiri.
San Marino: Aldo Simoncini, Cesarini, Della Valle, Davide Simoncini, Palazzi, Berardi, Matteo Vitaioli, Tosi, Lorenzo Gasperoni, Golinucci, Stefanelli.
Subs: Benedettini, Brolli, Alex Gasperoni, Hirsch, Selva, Berretti, Fabio Vitaioli, Rinaldi, Coppini, Mazza, Valentini, Muraccini.
Referee: Mattias Gestranius (Finland)
GROUP G
Liechtenstein: Jehle, Rechsteiner, Frick, Wieser, Oehri, Christen, Martin Buchel, Polverino, Marcel Buchel, Burgmeier, Kuhne.
Subs: Bicer, Brandle, Sele, Malin, Yildiz, Gubser, Kieber, Benjamin Buchel.
Sweden: Isaksson, Lustig, Antonsson, Granqvist, Olsson, Ekdal, Kallstrom, Durmaz, Zengin, Ibrahimovic, Berg.
Subs: Nordfeldt, Lewicki, Larsson, Thelin, Helander, Tinnerholm, Guidetti, Wernbloom, Bengtsson, Khalili, Toivonen, Olsen.
Referee: Liran Liany (Israel)
Moldova: Koselev, Bordiyan, Armas, Burghiu, Jardan, Cebotaru, Antoniuc, Onica, Carp, Spataru, Milinceanu.
Subs: Cebanu, Sumchin, Erhan, Celeadnic, Ambros, Patras, Istrati, Vremea, Potirniche, Calancea.
Russia: Akinfeev, Kombarov, Ignashevich, Alexsei Berezutski, Smolnikov, Mamaev, Denisov, Kokorin, Shirokov, Shatov, Dzjuba.
Subs: Rebrov, Kuzmin, Glushakov, Kasaev, Cheryshev, Schennikov, Vasili Berezutski, Tarasov, Samedov, Smolov, Ionov, Lodygin.
Referee: Michail Koukoulakis (Greece)
Montenegro: Poleksic, Rodic, Savic, Simic, Tomasevic, Marusic, Vukcevic, Boljevic, Beqiraj, Mugosa, Vucinic.
Subs: Mijatovic, Balic, Basa, Mandic, Jovetic, Damjanovic, Saveljich, Kascelan, Zverotic, Nikolic, Jankovic, Petkovic.
Austria: Almer, Klein, Prodl, Dragovic, Fuchs, Harnik, Baumgartlinger, Alaba, Arnautovic, Junuzovic, Janko.
Subs: Lindner, Garics, Madl, Ilsanker, Okotie, Suttner, Wimmer, Schwab, Hinterseer, Sabitzer, Jantscher, Ozcan.
Referee: Daniele Orsato (Italy)
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While we wait for the team news to come in, have you seen the state of the Euro 2016 mascot? He’s called Super Victor. Meet Super Victor.
I’m not sure Super Victor is very fair on children. He’s a bit intense. Imagine that big face barging the sandman out of the way at bedtime and coming at you with extreme prejudice. Man’s deranged. That said, the Euro mascots don’t catch the imagination in the way the World Cup ones do - Euro 96’s Goliath? Kinas from Euro 2004? Rabbit, the feet-on-desk Euro 92 effort? - so with any luck nobody will notice and a generation will survive this atrocity unharmed.
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Yesterday evening, Northern Ireland qualified with a flourish. Scotland were knocked out with the last kick of their match. And the Republic of Ireland beat the world champions. Tomorrow, Wales have the chance to reach their first major finals since 1958. But tonight? Taking centre stage tonight are England. And they’ve already qualified. And their match is being dealt with over here.
But never fear: there’s still plenty going on elsewhere! In Group C, Spain will almost certainly qualify with a win over Luxembourg, while you’d back Slovakia to make it too by beating Belarus. In Group E, Switzerland can join England in France next summer if they beat San Marino and Slovenia fail to beat Lithuania. And in Group G, Russia will make it should they win in Moldova while Sweden and Montenegro drop points.
There are many other permutations. Barry Glendenning has rather delightfully done my work for me here. Isn’t he a darling? Yes. Yes he is. But we can worry about all the other possibilities as this report drags on. Tonight’s fixtures, then:
Group C: Macedonia v Ukraine, Slovakia v Belarus, Spain v Luxembourg.
Group E: England v Estonia, Slovenia v Lithuania, Switzerland v San Marino.
Group G: Liechtenstein v Sweden, Moldova v Russia, Montenegro v Austria.
All games kick off at 7.45pm BST. At least one team is certain to book their ticket to France tonight - sorry, Luxembourg - but it could be many more. So as much as this could ever be described as a show, let’s get it on the road!
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