A win tonight against Luxembourg and Spain will qualify for Euro 2016.
Vicente del Bosque’s team need only a point against opponents ranked 142nd in the world who have lost all four of their away games in Group C.
Following a surprise defeat in Slovakia in their opening away game of the group, Spain have won every match since and boast a record of seven wins from eight games, with 18 goals scored and only three conceded. It looks positive for the reigning European champions, yet they are a side in transition and missing key players through injury and suspension.
They underperformed in Brazil at the World Cup last year after which Xavi and David Villa, Spain’s all-time leading scorer, retired from international football.
Spain aim to become the first team in history to lift three consecutive European titles, in France next year, but while they should overcome Luxembourg tonight in Logrono’s 16,000-capacity Estadio Las Gaunas, they will have to do it without several players.
Striker Diego Costa, whose form for his adopted country has not matched those for his clubs, is suspended for tonight’s game, but he would have been eligible to play in Ukraine on Monday in the final qualifier.
Instead, Del Bosque left him out of the 23-man squad, replaced by the in-form Alvaro Morata.
The Juventus striker has one goal in five appearances for the national team, a key strike against Ukraine in March.
Morata, 22, was injured earlier in the season but has returned to form, scoring in both of Juve’s Champions League group matches last month, including the winner at Manchester City.
His former Madrid teammate, Juan Mata, believes he has the quality to be a success.
“I know Alvaro from Real Madrid’s academy,” Mata said.
“He is younger than me but we went to the same school.
“He’s become an important player for Spain, but especially for Juventus where he won the double last season and reached the Champions League final.
“He’s a very nice guy, very innocent and honest. He’s always talking and telling us stories about when he was a kid. He’s a funny guy and popular in the dressing room.”
Mata also played with another of Spain’s young strikers, Valencia’s Paco Alcacer, 22.
“I was with him at Valencia and I thought he was going to be a top player from the first training session,” Mata said from Spain’s team hotel in La Rioja.
“He’s not very tall or very strong to be a striker, but he’s very clever and he finishes clinically. He’s doing great in Valencia.”
Spain will play with one striker, likely to be Morata, though Celta Vigo’s Nolito could also feature. The former Barceloa player is doing so well that he is expected to leave in January. Thiago Alcantara, 24, also returns to the squad after overcoming a series of knee problems with Bayern Munich.
Spain are unbeaten on home soil in 31 matches, winning 27 and recording four draws in a run which goes back to 2003 when they were defeated by Greece.
The record should survive tonight, though Spain also have problems in defence, with Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Inigo Martinez and Bruno Soriano forced out injured.
In midfield, Andres Iniesta is sidelined with a hamstring injury, while David Silva and Cesc Fabregas are also out.
Gerard Pique is expected to start, though he will be unsure of his reception; he was whistled for his perceived anti-Madrid comments and pro-Catalan independence stance the last time Spain played.
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