Lowly Liechtenstein, who have only ever won one European championship qualifier, made life difficult for a lacklustre Spain even after Fernando Torres scored in the 20th minute.

They continued to frustrate their hosts until a minute before the break when Villa blasted home Spain's second goal to effectively settle the match.

An improved performance after the break saw Villa make it 3-0 with his second goal from a freekick in the 62nd minute, and four minutes later substitute Luis Garcia made it 4-0.

Having kept faith with almost exactly the same squad who only made the last 16 at the World Cup finals in Germany, Spain coach Luis Aragones said he was pleased with the performance.

"We controlled the ball at all times, played well, created a lot of chances and scored four goals," he said.

"We achieved what we set out to do and I don't think we were lacking in any areas."

Aragones's counterpart Martin Andermatt said: "We are satisfied because we didn't concede any more goals. Spain are a great side and they were much better than us."

The home side dominated possession from the start with Villa and Torres spurning close range chances while Liechtenstein appeared content to camp on the edge of their own area.

But high-spirited home fans, who had been built up to expect a feast of goals by the local press, started to grow restless as the opening goal failed to materialise.

It took an intelligent pass from captain Raul to set them on their way as he sent Villa through behind the visitors' defence from where he crossed for Torres to steer home.

Instead of opening the floodgates, however, it seemed to spur Liechtenstein to further tighten their defence and a well drilled offside trap frustrated Spain's attempts to add to the score.

Spain's passing was slow and predictable, and too often they resorted to hopeful long balls over the top.

After being booked for protesting another offside flag Villa finally added the second when Xabi Alonso's pass put him clear to finish high into the roof of the net just before the break.

Aragones's halftime talk paid dividends as Spain picked up the pace in the second period and Villa netted his second by drilling a low free kick through the wall to beat Peter Jehle.

The Valencia striker was replaced soon afterwards by Garcia who quickly added the fourth, chesting down Mariano Pernia's deep cross to fire in from close range.

Andermatt replaced defender Martin Telser with forward Benjamin Fischer in the 59th minute but it made little difference as Spain pressed in the closing stages.

However, despite laying siege to the Liechtenstein goal near the end the hosts were unable to add to their score.