Spain 8-0 Scotland: Visitors fall to huge defeat in World Cup qualifying

Hermoso Fuentes, Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas were all on the scoresheet

Scotland's unbeaten start to their Women's World Cup qualifying campaign came to a painful end as rampant Spain put eight past them in Seville.

Abi Harrison hit the crossbar for Scotland before the hosts made their superiority count and Pedro Martinez Losa's side stay second in Group B, now five points behind Spain.

The Scots have a four-point gap to Hungary, who beat Ukraine 4-2 at home to move third.

Had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Lee Alexander, Scotland would have suffered an even heavier defeat, with Spain extending their astonishing winning run to 16 games and 96 goals scored without conceding.

• Reaction & as it happened

Scotland's daunting task was amplified pre-match when Barcelona midfielder Putellas proudly showed off the Ballon D'or trophy she had won the previous day in Paris.

The visitors were inches from claiming a shock lead as Harrison - the last-gasp hero against Ukraine on Friday - pounced on a stray pass in the Spain box to thump a shot against the crossbar.

That was as good as it got for the visitors on Martinez Losa's miserable return to his homeland.

Spain had already gone close a couple of times when their relentless pressure paid off in the 20th minute as Sarriegi Isasa planted a header beyond Lee Alexander from Leila Ouahabi's cross.

The pick of Alexander's raft of first-half saves saw her thwart Caldentey Oliver with a brilliant point-blank save.

Alexander blotted her heroics moments later, though, when she got a hand to Caldentey Oliver's 25-yard drive but could not prevent it nestling in the net.

And Scotland were again culpable for the third before half-time. Sophie Howard's header hit Nicola Docherty and landed between the pair. While they hesitated, Bonamti steamed in and rattled a shot past Alexander.

Martinez Losa made a triple change at half-time - Harrison, Caroline Weir and Lisa Robertson made way for Christie Murray, Christy Grimshaw and Lucy Graham - but his team buckled with their deficit doubled in a dizzying six-minute spell.

Again, unforced errors were ruthlessly punished, with Howard's failure to clear her lines allowing Sarriegi Isasa to stab the ball over the line.

Bonmati also added her second, beating Alexander at the third attempt, before Putellas got in on the act with a smart finish from a cutback.

Alexander made another miraculous stop, sticking out a leg to foil Ona Batlle, as the chances kept mounting. Spain added two more goals in the final 10 minutes as Hermoso curled in at the far corer after Scotland were caught in possession and Caldentey Oliver wrapped up the rout after the hosts struck the bar.

More to follow.