Spain substitute Fernando Llorente scored with 11 minutes left Tuesday to give his team a 3-2 win at Scotland in European Championship qualifying and spare the world champions' embarrassment at surrendering a two-goal lead.
Scotland, 46 places below top-ranked Spain, fought back from 2-0 down at Hampden Park to 2-2 through Steven Naismith and an own-goal by Gerard Pique. But Llorente, on the bench despite scoring twice in last week's 3-1 win against Lithuania, came on in the 76th and side-footed in from close range.
''The comeback was down to the merits and character of Scotland,'' Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque said. ''They fought until the last minute. We managed to convert our chances but the comeback was down to pure hard work on their part.
''We can be satisfied with our performance.''
Spain's 17th straight qualifying win in all competitions moved the world and European champions to nine points after three games in Group I. Scotland is five points back after playing one game more but still has a slim chance of beating Lithuania and the Czech Republic to second place and a playoff place.
David Villa had put Spain ahead with a record 45th international goal before helping set up Andres Iniesta to make it 2-0 by the 55th minute.
Villa had been smothered by the home defense in his 69th international before defender Steven Whittaker blocked Sergio Ramos' acrobatic shot with his arm. The raucous home crowd jeered Villa as he ran up to take the resulting penalty but the joint leading scorer at this year's World Cup was unfazed, stroking the ball low to goalkeeper Allan McGregor's left.
Ending a two-game scoreless streak, the Barcelona striker took sole possession of the national scoring record he had shared with former Real Madrid great Raul Gonzalez.
''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.''
Villa then set up the second goal, passing to Santi Carzola inside the area. Carzola's shot was blocked but Iniesta, who scored in July's 1-0 World Cup final win over the Netherlands, converted the rebound.
With Carles Puyol and Pique taking turns to mark lone Scotland striker Kenny Miller, leftback Joan Capdevila played more as a winger and Ramos drifted from rightback into midfield to leave just one of the central defenders free at the back at any one time.
That gave Spain numbers in a packed midfield but also left space for Naismith, Darren Fletcher, James Morrison and Graham Dorrans to run into when their teammates managed to get the ball.
Both Scotland's goals came from such runs, exposing the defensive weaknesses that allowed Lithuania to score on Friday and were largely responsible for last month's 4-1 friendly loss at Argentina.
Naismith drifted into the area in the 58th to score a diving header from Miller's floated cross for his first international goal. Ten minutes later, Pique, trying to protect the empty space left behind him, redirected Morrison's right-wing cross past goalkeeper Iker Casillas from close range.
''We've spoken at length about the attitude and athleticism particularly our younger players have got and the belief they have in their teammates,'' Scotland coach Craig Levein said. ''It would have been easy to let their heads down against possibly the best team to ever play here, but they didn't.''
Hampden Park shook as home fans, who have not seen their team reach a major tournament since 1998, celebrated but Llorente settled the match and Whittaker was sent off in the 89th for a second yellow card.
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Lineups:
Scotland: Allan McGregor, Phil Bardsley, David Weir, Steven Whittaker, Stephen McManus, Graham Dorrans (Jamie Mackie, 80), Lee McCulloch, Darren Fletcher, James Morrison (Shaun Maloney, 88), Steven Naismith, Kenny Miller.
Spain: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Joan Capdevila, Xabi Alonso, Sergio Busquets (Carlos Marchena, 90), Santi Cazorla (Pablo Hernandez, 70), Andres Iniesta, David Silva (Fernando Llorente, 76), David Villa.
