Girona head coach Michel was left to rue a lack of attacking options but urged his side to cope with injury absences after Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad.

Last season's surprise package Girona have struggled to find form this campaign, slipping to 13th in the LaLiga standings after their fourth defeat in 10 games.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time as Girona put in another disappointing performance at home.

Michel lamented his side's depleted attack following injuries to forwards Bryan Gil, Yaser Asprilla and Abel Ruiz.

"We have to keep working, the offensive potential of the team without injured players... you lack depth, you always lose somewhere, we don't have any player on the pitch who can play as a winger," the Spanish manager told reporters.

"We need to improve in our final pass, in our one-on-one determination, to get into the box more. These things are the most difficult thing in football, scoring goals.

"Last year we had a lot of goals, this year it's harder for us."

Fans at Girona's Montilivi stadium expressed their frustration after another underwhelming performance, but Michel backed his players in the face of criticism.

"Fans have to understand the process in which the players are. There is no player, because I would not allow it, that does not give his maximum performance in terms of attitude, mentality, illusion, motivation, energy," he said.

"If they say that we play good or not, I respect that, but we try to play good football and mistakes are part of the game.

"It's not easy, we faced a team with 14 internationals and for the first half hour we tried to go for them... you can't say to any Girona player that they don't give their all for this shirt."

Girona will look to bounce back when they Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Spain were at their ruthless best as they swept aside Northern Ireland to conclude their Euro 2024 preparations with an emphatic 5-1 triumph. 

Luis de la Fuente's side had put five goals past Andorra in their last outing, and repeated the trick in another fine performance on Saturday.

That is despite finding themselves a goal behind after just 66 seconds in Mallorca when Dan Ballard headed in from Caolan Boyd-Munce's teasing delivery.

But the visitors' joy was short-lived as two goals in six minutes courtesy of Pedri and Alvaro Morata saw normal service resume for the three-time European Champions. 

The Barcelona midfielder netted his second of the evening after being picked out inside the area by Nico Williams to finish beyond Bailey Peacock-Farrell. 

La Roja had their fourth shortly before the break as another La Masia graduate took centre stage – Lamine Yamal chipping the ball to Fabian Ruiz, who scored his second international goal. 

Having scored a hat-trick in Spain's win over Andorra, Mikel Oyarzabal was on target again to cap off the rout, with teenager Yamal winning possession back in the final third before teeing up the Real Sociedad forward.

Data Debrief: Rampant Spain show no mercy

Spain have now lost just one of their last 27 home international fixtures (W22 D4), and are unbeaten in their last seven such games (W5 D1), netting 27 goals in that time.

Northern Ireland's barren run against the Spaniards continues, and they are now winless in all 10 of their previous trips to Spain in all competitions, losing on each of their last six visits by an aggregate score of 3-19.

It was a brilliant performance from Yamal, who has been directly involved in five goals in just seven senior appearances (four starts) for Spain (two goals, three assists). His club-mate Pedri, meanwhile, is the youngest player to score more than once in a match for Spain since Ferran Torres' hat-trick vs Germany in November 2020.

Mikel Oyarzabal staked his claim for a place in Spain's final Euro 2024 squad after his hat-trick in Wednesday's 5-0 friendly victory over Andorra.

Real Betis forward Ayose Perez marked his international debut with a 24th-minute opener in Badajoz, capitalising on Pau Cubarsi's headed assist to edge the hosts ahead.

Perez added further credit to his European Championship hopes with a smart assist after the break, teeing up a tap-in for Oyarzabal, who then added his second of the game after 66 minutes.

Oyarzabal completed his treble just seven minutes later before Ferran Torres netted a fifth as Spain, who face Northern Ireland in their final warm-up on Saturday, eased to victory just 10 days before their Euros opener against Croatia.

Data Debrief: Treble heroics from Oyarzabal

Oyarzabal is the second player to score a hat-trick for Spain under Luis de la Fuente, after Alvaro Morata against Georgia in September 2023.

The Real Sociedad man accounted for 2.61 of La Roja's 3.89 expected goals (xG), while Andorra mustered just 0.08 xG in response as David Raya went largely untested.

Substitute Sergi Darder fired Real Mallorca into the Copa del Rey final in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at Real Sociedad.

The visitors scored all five of their spot-kicks after Mikel Oyarzabal had missed with the hosts’ first attempt to book a showdown with either Athletic Bilbao or Atletico Madrid, who meet on Thursday at the San Mames Stadium with Bilbao defending a 1-0 first leg lead.

Mallorca, who sit in 16th place in LaLiga, had taken the lead at the Reale Arena through Giovanni Gonzalez’s header after keeper Dominik Greif had saved Brais Mendez’s penalty but Oyarzabal made it 1-1 to take the tie into extra time, only to be found wanting from 12 yards.

Mikel Merino, whose late strike sealed a 2-1 league win at Mallorca earlier this month, failed to repeat the dose when he fired high and wide with eight minutes gone, but Dani Rodriguez was no more accurate at the other end five minutes later.

Arsen Zakharyan forced a save from distance as the home side pushed for a breakthrough, but Abdon Prats went close for the visitors six minutes before the break.

However, seventh-placed Sociedad were presented with a golden opportunity to open the scoring at the end of the first half when Antonio Raillo was adjudged to have handled in the area, only for Greif to save Mendez’s spot-kick.

It was the visitors who took the lead five minutes after the restart when Gonzalez headed home from Jaume Costa’s cross.

The goal prompted something of an onslaught from the hosts which finally paid dividends with 19 minutes remaining when Oyarzabal equalised from Mendez’s through-ball.

Fellow substitute Sheraldo Becker almost won it for Imanol Alguacil’s men with 10 minutes left on the clock, but neither side could find a winner as time ran down.

The home side created the better chances in extra time, with Greif saving from Becker and substitute Umar Sadiq, but the teams could not be separated and penalties were required.

Oyarzabal was unable to convert the opening spot-kick in the shoot-out and with Vedat Muriqi, Manu Marlanes, Omar Mascarell, Nemanja Radonjic and Darder all successful for Mallorca, they ran out 5-4 winners.

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.