Spain's preparations for the European Championship finals have taken a major blow as they fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at home to Georgia on Tuesday evening.
It is a first ever win over the back-to-back Euro champions for the Crusaders - ranked at 137 in the world following another disappointing recent qualifying campaign - at the third time of asking.
Spain named a strong-looking side from the off in Madrid but just could not find a way through across the 90 minutes, with Tornike Okriashvili's strike late in the first half proving the difference in the end.
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The match began in the way many expected, as the hosts took complete control of possession by working the ball from front to back in an attempt to break their opponents down.
Spain could well have been ahead just a few minutes in when a flicked header was almost turned home at the back post by Sergio Ramos - one of eight returning players in the starting lineup this evening.
Another of those new faces from last time out was Lucas Vazquez, who was handed his senior international bow by Vicente del Bosque and impressed for large parts of the first half by creating a couple of half-chances for teammates.
Cesc Fabregas perhaps should have done better when bursting through only to strike the ball into the side-netting from one of those openings, and the Chelsea midfielder was to also be denied by Nukri Revishvili 25 minutes in.
The closest La Roja came to breaching the opposition net came on the half-hour mark, with Vazquez shifting the ball across for Thiago Alcantara to blast against the upright.
Aritz Aduriz, given the nod alongside debutant Vazquez and an in-form Nolito in attack, also headed wide when getting on the end of a cross just five yards out.
It would prove costly, too, as a rare Georgian attack ended with Jambul Jighauri squaring the ball to Okriashvili who made no mistake in front of an open goal.
Georgia had perfected their gameplan in the opening 45 minutes, sitting back for the vast majority of the half before getting the ball forward quickly when the opportunity arose to do so.
La Roja, booed off at the interval by their supporters, still had plenty of time to carve out a result and they went about doing so with the introduction of four pairs of fresh legs, including the arrival of influential midfielder Andres Iniesta.
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Iniesta sent a shot just a yard wide of the target soon after the restart, offering a warning of what was to come, but Spain's onslaught was halted when a nasty clash of heads between Sergio Busquets and Revishvili forced a stoppage in play.
Revishvili came out second best and was replaced soon after, having had to make just the single save all evening before departing on the hour.
Nolito was desperate to make Roin Kvaskhvadze work harder than the man he replaced, picking up a loose ball and exchanging passes with Iniesta before letting loose with a shot that ended narrowly wide.
With nine white shirts camped on the edge of the box, Spain were growing increasingly frustrated and taking on a number of shots from range that did little to trouble stand-in keeper Kvaskhvadze.
For all of Spain's intricate play inside the box, their only real chance in the closing quarter of the match fell the way of Gerard Pique - now playing as a forward - although he headed wide inside the box to signal the end of Spain's hopes.
La Roja, aiming to make it three European titles on the bounce over the coming month, now have six days to return to the drawing board before facing Czech Republic in their opening group-stage fixture.
