In a match in Alicante marred by boos for Barcelona defender Gerard Pique over his quit threat following the Catalan referendum, Spain crossed the line with first-half goals from Rodrigo, Isco and Thiago Alcantara to the relief of coach Julen Lopetegui.
“We had to concentrate solely on football,” Lopetegui told Spanish TV station Teledeporte.
“It has been a difficult, complicated week and fortunately we managed to do that in a very, very good first 30 minutes.”
Fumbling four-time World Cup winners Italy are now headed for the November play-offs after Macedonian substitute Aleksandar Trajkovski’s 77th-minute equaliser cancelled out a first-half goal by Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini.
Serbia meanwhile, missed out on a chance to wrap up qualification from Group D with a match to spare as Louis Schaub struck a minute from time to give Austria a dramatic victory in Vienna.
Serbia, who could have sealed a spot in Russia with victory, led through an early Luka Milivojevic goal but fell behind as Austria replied through efforts from Guido Burgstaller and Marko Arnautovic.
Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic drew level on 83 minutes after efforts from Guido Burgstaller and Marko Arnautovic had cancelled out Luka Milivojevic’s opener.
But Schaub’s winner ensured that Serbia would have to wait until their home tie against Georgia on Monday before punching a ticket for the Mundial.
Iceland continued their impressive march towards a maiden World Cup appearance with an impressive 3-0 win over Turkey in Eskisehir that leaves the hosts all but out of the running.
Goals from Johann Gudmundsson, Birkir Bjarnason and Kari Arnason pulled Iceland two points clear of Croatia at the top of Group I after the latter were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Finland.
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