“It’s a bittersweet feeling, but we’re happy to have qualified for the World Cup.
“We could have scored a few more goals. We need to improve on set-pieces.”
Second-placed Turkey needed to win by a seven-goal margin against the European champions to top the group.
While they showed tremendous spirit and fight, they had to settle for a play-off spot in March, where their first opponents will be either Northern Ireland, Sweden, Romania or Northern Macedonia.
Spain’s unbeaten run consists of 25 wins and six draws. Their last defeat was a 2-0 loss in a European Championship qualifier to Scotland in March 2023, before going on to win that trophy.
Olmo gave Spain the lead against Turkey when he squeezed the ball home from Marc Cucurella’s cut-back to score his 12th international goal on his first start since March.
But they conceded a first goal of their campaign when Deniz Gul guided the ball past Unai Simon to equalise.
Turkey went ahead on 54 minutes, Salih Ozcan powering a neat effort into the bottom left corner.
But in-form forward Mikel Oyarzabal restored parity with his sixth goal of qualifying, prodding home the rebound after Yeremy Pino’s effort was cleared off the line.
Olmo had chances to double Spain’s lead in the first half but was denied by two good saves from Manchester United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.
Baris Yilmaz’s acrobatic overhead kick forced a superb save from Simon with the game finely poised at 1-1.
The result means only England will end the European World Cup qualifiers having not conceded a goal.
