David Villa became Spain's all-time leading scorer Tuesday, again showing his worth to the world champions when he scored his 45th goal for the national team.
The Barcelona striker took sole possession of the Spanish record he had jointly held with former Real Madrid great Raul Gonzalez with a 44th-minute penalty and then helped set up Andres Iniesta for 2-0 shortly after halftime.
Scotland fought back to 2-2 but Spain eventually won the European Championship qualifier 3-2 with a late goal by substitute Fernando Llorente, giving Villa yet another victory to look back on.
''He has had a great career up until now and to be able to speak to him as a great striker like Raul is a great thing,'' Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. ''He was one of the keys to us winning the World Cup.
''But the team works hard to give him chances.''
Villa scored five goals to help Spain win this year's World Cup in South Africa, two years after he scored a tournament-high four to lead Spain to its first title for 44 years at the 2008 European Championship.
But Villa had been mostly smothered by the home defense before scoring the opening goal in his 69th international.
With fullback Joan Capdevila and Iniesta taking turns to provide Spain with width on the left, Villa was playing centrally and Scotland's five-man midfield dropped deep when not in possession to help deny him space.
But he ended his two-game scoreless streak for Spain after Whittaker blocked Sergio Ramos' acrobatic shot.
The raucous home crowd jeered Villa as he ran up to take the shot but the joint leading scorer at this year's World Cup was unfazed, stroking the ball low to goalkeeper Allan McGregor's left.
His low pass in the area then game Santi Carzola a 55th-minute shot. That was blocked but Iniesta put in the rebound.
''He did his job well,'' Del Bosque said. ''He can flit in and out of a game but despite a few missed chances he did pretty well overall.''
