Take your pick. Choose from Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Nico Williams, Fabian Ruiz, even the wasteful Pedri, who spurned two chances on Thursday — they were all excellent as Spain outplayed Italy for a vital 1-0 victory in Group B at Euro 2024.

But despite the quality of the talent, and the impressiveness of their performances, none of them claimed a goal as Spain surged clear at the top of the group and booked its place in the knockout bracket.

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Instead, it was a familiar “scorer” that made the difference between the sides, as “own goal” appeared on the stat sheet for the fifth time in the tournament, even with Euro 2024 being only a week old.

This time the unfortunate player was Riccardo Calafiori, who was powerless to avoid deflecting the ball past goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma in the 55th minute to hand Spain all three points.

Williams whipped in a cross from the left, Alvaro Morata got a slight touch, just enough to wrong-foot Calafiori, the ball bouncing off him and over the line.

Spain deserved its lead. It had a multitude of chances, with Williams heading wide in the first half and Pedri missing a golden opportunity from close range and then steering a fierce shot straight at Donnarumma.

Williams, lively throughout, smashed an effort against the crossbar after 70 minutes, with Donnarumma beaten.

With only a clash against Albania to come, Spain is now an overwhelming favorite to secure top spot in the group and set up a clash with a third-place finisher in the round of 16.

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