The coach was disappointed with his side's second half performance and revealed that Jordi Alba will be sent back to Barcelona with an injury

Vicente del Bosque says Spain have to improve after they let Ukraine "control the game" during their 1-0 Euro 2016 qualifying win over the Eastern Europeans on Friday.

Alvaro Morata's first-half goal was enough to secure the points for the defending European champions, who are now three ahead of their opponents but remain three behind Group C leaders Slovakia.

Del Bosque was disappointed in his side's second-half performance and hopes to see better from them in the future.

"We played well in the first half and created chances but we struggled to put them away," he told reporters. "Later, in the second half we brought on Juanfran and [Santi] Cazorla but still found it hard to score.

"We dropped in intensity and allowed them to control the game. Our second-half performance left a bad taste in the mouth. We’ve got to start improving.

"Everyone played well. We’ve got three points; the only downside was the second half.

"We’ll be making changes for the Netherlands game on Tuesday because some of the players need a rest."

The coach was full of praise for Morata, who scored his first Spain goal to win the game.

"He did what he was asked to do and scored. That’s why we he’s in the side. He made the most of a good pass from Koke and took his goal well.

"With more players up front we would have created more chances. We decided to make changes, despite the fact that he’s tall and can defend himself. We wanted more movement because Morata was starting to tire."

Jordi Alba was taken off late in the game with an injury and the coach has revealed that the left-back will return to Barcelona.

"Our medical team has been in touch with Barca’s doctors. He will leave the Spain camp and go back to Barcelona tomorrow to see what the problem is.

"It’s a muscular injury but we’ll need to see the results of the tests. That’s all I know."