Sixteen-year-old Lamine Yamal was on target as Spain moved two points clear at the top of their European Championship qualifying group with a 3-1 victory over Cyprus.

Barcelona’s Yamal was one of three scorers for the visitors in the first half-hour in Limassol, with Mikel Oyarzabal and Joselu also on target.

Spain won the reverse fixture 6-0 but, although Cyprus remain without a point in Group A, they did score the only goal of the second half through Kostas Pileas in the 75th minute.

With Scotland only drawing against Georgia, Spain can clinch top spot in the group by beating the same opponents on Sunday.

Spain boss Luis de la Fuente gave another start to Yamal while Bayer Leverkusen’s Alejandro Grimaldo made his debut and Jesus Navas captained the side to mark his 50th cap.

Gavi came close to an opener in the second minute but the visitors were ahead less than five minutes in, with the ball falling to Yamal after good work from Joselu, and the teenager showing good skill before finding the bottom corner.

It was a second goal for the young Barcelona star, who also scored against Georgia earlier in the group stage.

Spain doubled their advantage in the 22nd minute, with Grimaldo playing in Oyarzabal, who finished coolly past the keeper. The flag was raised but a VAR check showed the forward had stayed onside and the goal was given.

Cyprus had a let-off when Martin Zubimendi hit a post but Spain only had to wait a couple more minutes for the third to arrive, this time Oyarzabal crossing for Joselu.

The visitors were dealt a costly blow five minutes before the break, though, when Real Sociedad’s Oyarzabal pulled up with an apparent calf injury and 23-year-old Rodrigo Riquelme came on for his debut.

David Raya in the Spain goal had had very little to do, and he dealt comfortably with a long-range effort from Grigoris Kastanos after a moment of concern.

Both teams made substitutions for the second half, with Aleix Garcia and David Garcia replacing Robin Le Normand and Mikel Merino for Spain, while Cyprus made three changes.

The two managers continued to shuffle their packs and there was little in the way of rhythm or chances until Cyprus scored just their third goal of the group stage.

Kastanos stole the ball and played a pinpoint pass behind the Spain defence for Pileas, who defeated Raya to give the fans in Limassol something to cheer.

Interim boss Steven Davis insists he retains confidence in the Rangers squad as he called for unity following the 2-1 Europa League defeat by Aris Limassol in Cyprus.

The former Light Blues midfielder was asked to take over after Michael Beale was dismissed at the weekend following the 3-1 loss Aberdeen at Ibrox which left the Gers seven points behind cinch Premiership leaders Celtic.

Rangers had beaten Real Betis in their Group C opener at Ibrox but found the Cypriot side too much, losing the first goal after nine minutes to defender Alex Moucketou-Moussounda.

Striker Shavy Babicka added a second goal in the 59th minute before Light Blues attacker Abdallah Sima pulled a goal back for the Ibrox men but the visitors could not complete the comeback.

Ahead of the trip to St Mirren on Sunday, Davis said: “I still believe we have some real quality players. Obviously, confidence has been hit.

“You go through these periods in your career and it’s a really difficult moment.

“As I say by sticking together you make sure to do the basics right in terms of hard work and application which they have been doing.

“It’s important we continue that and things will turn because I believe in the qualities of the squad.

“We’ll get players back which will help. The most important thing is right now is us being a group together.

“It was a really difficult night because we felt a real opportunity to come here and build on the Betis game.

“I think we caused a lot of our own problems in the game. Obviously, with the two goals we give away we’re really disappointed with and when that happens you have a mountain to climb.

“Firstly I’ve got to take some responsibility. In the first half we kept trying to play in the middle of the pitch when it wasn’t really on, they were good at getting transitions from that with the pace they had up front which caused us problems all night.

“Whenever you go behind in a second half you must throw some caution to the wind at certain points.

“We tried to simplify the game really, trying to get the ball in behind, get it wide and cross the ball into the box and ultimately we didn’t do enough to take something from the game.

“In terms of the effort of the players, I thought they tried to keep going till the end and in terms of the energy they put in, I couldn’t ask for any more in that respect.

“There wasn’t a lack of effort, we’d never question that from the dressing room but it is a really difficult moment that everyone is in.

“When that happens you maybe start to make the wrong decision and things like that.

“Sunday’s coming up and it’s a really quick turnaround. We’re hurting from tonight but it’s important as a group we stick together.”