Chelsea striker Diego Costa continued his fine run of goalscoring form to help Spain secure a deserved 2-0 win over Albania in Shkoder, while Italy left it late to snatch a comeback 3-2 win in Macedonia.
Costa, who leads the Premier League scoring chart with six goals, tucked away the first on 55 minutes past goalkeeper Etrit Berisha who had pulled off a series of fine saves in the first half.
Manchester City forward Nolito hit the second of the night just three minutes after coming on as a substitute for Vitolo.
“This was a very difficult match even if it appeared easy,” Nolito said. “Albania are a good side who know how to play.”
Spain lead Italy on goal difference in Group G after Italy maintained their perfect start to 2018 World Cup qualifying, but it was a far from convincing display in Skopje.
Italy needed an injury-time winner from Lazio striker Ciro Immobile to secure the points. They were staring at a shock defeat against a side ranked a 146 in the world.
Torino striker Andrea Belotti had given Italy a 24th minute lead just four minutes after Palermo marksman Ilija Nestorokvski had crashed a drive off the crossbar for the hosts.
But Nestorokvski levelled just before the hour mark when he robbed Marco Verratti before tucking the ball past veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.
Two minutes later, Macedonia were ahead when midfielder Ferhan Hasani finished a smart move involving Goran Pandev and Nestorovski.
However Immobile put Italy back on equal terms at 2-2 with 15 minutes left after good approach work from Verratti and Antonio Candreva.
On 90 minutes, Marco Parolo had a header ruled out for offside before club teammate Immobile saved Italy with the winner two minutes into injury time, finishing off a Candreva cross.
“We were weak and let up in the second half. You can’t give anything away at international level, we had to be more ruthless,” admitted Immobile.
Tadic saves Serbia
In Group D, Southampton’s Dusan Tadic scored the winner as Serbia beat Austria 3-2 in Belgrade.
Newcastle’s Alexsandar Mitrovic had scored Serbia’s first two goals in the opening half as his side went top on seven points.
They lead the way on goal difference from the Republic of Ireland who beat Moldova 3-1 in Chisinau.
Wes Hoolahan fed Shane Long to score after just two minutes for Ireland but Moldova, beaten 3-0 by Serbia at home on Thursday, levelled in injury-time when Igor Bugaiov scored his first goal in five years.
West Brom’s James McClean was on target twice after the break to give Ireland the three points.
Euro 2016 semi-finalists Wales were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Georgia in Cardiff as their push to reach a first World Cup since 1958 hit a roadblock.
The draw followed a 2-2 stalemate against Austria four days ago as Chris Coleman’s side were left to regret not making the most of a host of chances in the first half.
Real Madrid forward Gareth Bale headed Wales into a 10th minute lead but Georgia hit back after the break, equalising through Tornike Okriashvili’s 57th minute header.
Georgia nearly won the game late on when Valeri Kazaishvili struck the crossbar.
“People will look at it as two points dropped but it might be a point gained at the end of the day, in the second half,” said Coleman, whose team went from top of the group to third place.
In Group I, Croatia won 1-0 in Finland at Tampere with Juventus striker Mario Mandzukic scoring the only goal after 18 minutes when Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky allowed a cross from Andrej Kramaric to slip from his grasp.
Croatia have seven points and lead on goal difference from Iceland who followed up their come-from-behind 3-2 win over Finland with an impressive a 2-0 victory over Turkey in Reykjavik.
Turkey defender Omer Toprak put through his own goal in the 42nd minute before Alfred Finnbogason added a second just before the break.
Ukraine are third, two points back, after a 3-0 win over Kosovo in a game played at Krakow in Poland.
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