No looking back: Spain speeds by Chile

Spain

David Villa, Fernando Torres and Santi Cazorla struck the goals as Spain capped an unforgettable year on a winning note with a friendly victory over Chile at Villarreal's El Madrigal stadium.


Villa gave Spain the lead from the penalty spot before second-half efforts from Torres - who netted soon after replacing the Valencia hitman - and Cazorla sealed the win as the Euro 2008 winners extended their unbeaten run to 27 matches.


Villa, starting up front on his own after coach Vicente Del Bosque opted to leave Torres on the bench, looked lively from the start and he managed to get in behind the Chile defense inside the opening 70 seconds.


Fortunately for the visitors though, their goalkeeper and captain Claudio Bravo was quickly out to deny the Valencia striker.


Villa was a constant menace for the Chilean backline early on as he regularly threatened to break their offside trap, but it was not all one-way traffic with the South American side trying their luck through Fabian Orellana and Humberto Suazo.


Orellana dragged his side wide from the edge of the box when he should have done much better, before Suazo curled in a shot that was straight at Spain skipper Iker Casillas in the home goal.


As the half wore on, goalscoring opportunities dwindled and it looked likely that the teams would go into the break still locked at 0-0.


That was until Spain won a debatable penalty with eight minutes remaining in the period when Albert Riera went crashing under a soft Ismael Fuentes challenge inside the area.


Villa was the man tasked with taking the kick, and he coolly rolled the ball into the left-hand side of the net as Bravo dived the other way to take his tally to 24 goals in 41 appearances for his country.


That lifted the 26-year-old above the legendary Alfredo di Stefano and into fifth place in Spain's all-time goalscoring list, and he almost moved another step closer to Raul's record tally of 44 at the start of the second half only to be denied by a fine diving save by Bravo .


Villa's evening would end soon after that though as he was replaced by Torres as Del Bosque opted to keep faith with just one frontline striker.


Del Bosque continued to ring the changes, and two of other new faces almost combined for Spain's second goal in the 63rd minute with home favorite Cazorla firing just wide from Alvaro Arbeloa's lay-back.


Chile were not so lucky three minutes later though when Torres did make it 2-0.


Xavi burst forward from midfield, fed Torres inside the area, and the Liverpool man cut comfortably evaded the attentions of Fuentes before curling a low left-footed shot into the far corner for his 18th international goal.


Torres' Liverpool club-mate Jose Reina was Spain's hero just moments later, producing a brilliant one-handed save to keep out Suazo's header.


Alexis Sanchez then sent a 30-yard piledriver just over as Marcelo Bielsa's troops, who had never made it easy for their hosts, searched for a way back into the game.


It was Spain who looked the more likely scorers as the game entered the final stages though, with debutant Fernando Llorente firing just wide and Arbeloa seeing a deflected shot saved.


One of the biggest cheers of the night then came with four minutes to go when Villarreal midfielder Cazorla netted his first Spain goal, as his shot from the edge deflected past Bravo to complete the scoring.