The race for the 2016 European Championship is really close in Group C, where Slovakia leads the group with cent percent winning record from their four matches, while Spain and Ukraine lie second and third respectively with only goal differences separating the two European giants.
Both Spain and Ukraine, who take on one another at Sevilla's Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Friday, have an identical record with three wins and one loss in their European qualifying stages.
Hence the game between the two sides is going to be crucial in the group, which was initially thought to be an easy group for the Spaniards. But, things have changed with the unbeaten record of the Slovaks.
The 2008 and 2012 champions have received a major blow as their dangerous Chelsea striker, Diego Costa has been withdrawn from the squad due to a hamstring injury. But, the Spaniards do have some good quality strikers to replace the Blues' striker.
With Alvaro Morata in prime form in the Serie A, their manager, Vicente del Bosque is expected to hand over a starting role to the Juventus striker.
It is a chance, which the Juve striker needs to grab and come up with such a performance to claim his position even when Costa comes back to the team.
Though, Spain might be playing at home, they will not find it easy against the spirited Ukraine team, who have a very tight defence, which can be established by the fact that Ukraine has only let in a single goal in qualifying compared to Spain's three.
To the contrary, Spain has found the back of the net 13 times as well. Both the teams have nine points from the qualifying stages.
Irrespective of the stats, Spain are expected to win their game against Ukraine. Andriy Yarmolenko could prove to be the biggest threat to the Spaniards, as he has already scored thrice for the national team in the qualifying stages. He is one of the star players in Ukraine's squad.
Yarmolenko talked about their game preparations.
"We prepare in exactly the same way for every opponent," Uefa.com quoted Yarmolenko as saying. "We'll dedicate an hour to watching them.
"It was the same for San Marino, we watched four or five of their games, so for Spain we'll watch even more," he added. "We know Spain very well and how difficult it will be against them."
Irrespective of what happens in the match between the two, Slovakia would still maintain their lead at the top of the position if they manage to defeat Luxembourg at home in Štadión pod Dubňom.
Where to Watch Live
The match between Spain and Ukraine will start at 1:15am IST (3:45pm EDT and 7:45pm GMT) with live TV Coverage in India on Sony Six SD
Viewers in UK can watch it Live on Sky Sports with live streaming on Sky Go.
Audience across the US can watch it Live on Fox Sports with live streaming on Fox Sports Go.
People in Spain can watch it Live on TVE La 1 and football fans in Ukraine can catch the action on Futbol 1.
