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Reigning champion Spain crushes Turkey to book knockout round berth

Reuters

Spain is just fine, thank you very much.

The two-time defending kingpin is back in the knockout stages of the European Championship, booking a spot in the Round of 16 on Friday with a straightforward 3-0 win over an overmatched Turkey side.

Spain, who became the first team to find the net three times in a single contest at Euro 2016, got a brace from Alvaro Morata, sandwiching a tally from Nolito to ease La Furia Roja into the next stage of the competition.

Related - Watch: Spain feasts on Turkey with quickfire double

Spain, aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive Euros title, can seal top spot in the pool with just a draw against Croatia in its final group game on Tuesday.

Turkey needs to beat the Czech Republic in its final match and rely on other results to have any chance of progressing as one of the four best third-placed sides from the six groups.

Before the game Turkey coach Fatih Terim had called for more "fight" from his side to keep its Euro 2016 hopes alive after an out-of-sorts display against Croatia on Sunday, and for a while his players responded.

Sitting deep and launching the occasional counter-attack, Hakan Calhanoglu roused Turkey's raucous fans by sending a free-kick just over David De Gea's crossbar on 25 minutes.

From the half-hour though, Spain moved up a gear, starving Turkey of possession and, with man-of-the-match Andres Iniesta pulling the strings in midfield, carving out chance after chance.

It was another desperately disappointing day for Turkey who had come into the tournament in fine form.

Fancied by some as dark horses to at least escape the group, Turkey didn't manage a shot on target against Spain, while fans even took to booing star player Arda Turan late on.

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