Published on 12:00 AM, June 19, 2016

Spain cruise to last 16

Spain footballers celebrate a goal. File Photo: AFP

Defending European champions Spain booked their place in the last 16 round of Euro 2016 on Friday with a convincing 3-0 win against Turkey in Nice.

Vicente del Bosque's men bossed the Group D tie from the kickoff, with a double by Juventus' Alvaro Morata and a first competitive international goal from Nolito sealing a comfortable win.

"We showed our winning mentality and great team spirit here tonight," said Andres Iniesta, who was awarded man-of-the-match.

"It depends on ourselves how far we go here, the feelings we have are very positive at the moment," he said.

Spain, aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive Euros title, can seal top spot in the pool with just a draw against Croatia in their final group game on Tuesday.

Turkey need to beat the Czech Republic in their final match and hope other results go their way to have any chance of progressing as one of the four best third-placed sides from the six groups.

"We have completed our first objective, to qualify for the next round, we controlled the game almost for the whole 90 minutes and we scored goals, so it was perfect," Del Bosque said.

"But we haven't won anything yet, we are on a good path but there is still a long way to go," he added.

Before the game Turkey coach Fatih Terim had called for more "fight" from his side to keep their Euro 2016 hopes alive after an out-of-sorts display against Croatia on Sunday, and for a while his players responded.

Sitting deep and launching the occasional counter-attack, Hakan Calhanoglu roused Turkey's raucous fans by sending a free-kick just over David de Gea's crossbar on 25 minutes.

From the half-hour though, Spain moved up a gear, starving Turkey of possession and, with Iniesta pulling the strings in midfield, carving out chance after chance.

First Sergio Busquets teed up Nolito for a right-footed curler just wide of left post.

Then the busy Celta Vigo winger scuffed wide under pressure after a cutback from Juanfran.

On 34 minutes, though, Nolito turned provider to greater effect.

Looking up, he spotted Morata unmarked in front of goal and curled a pass over the defence to the marksman whose header gave Spain the lead.

Three minutes later, Vicente del Bosque's men went two-up, this time with Nolito as the finisher.

A chip into the box by Cesc Fabregas should not have reached its target but Mehmet Topal, off-balance, headed backward to the lurking Nolito who half-volleyed on the turn past Volkan Babacan.