Lamine Yamal scores twice as Spain beat Croatia 4-1 in Nations League home return
Lamine Yamal scored twice as Spain defeated Croatia 4-1 at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán in the Nations League on Tuesday, in the hosts' first home match since lifting the World Cup. Spain captain Rodri displayed the World Cup trophy before kick-off.
Rodri was handed the trophy by Sevilla legend Jesús Navas, a winner with Spain in 2010, at the packed stadium. Yamal had opened the scoring within two minutes against England in Saturday’s Wembley win and had nine international goals in 36 appearances going into the match. The fixture was Spain’s homecoming after the World Cup.
Yamal opened the scoring inside 75 seconds against Slaven Bilic’s side, his left-footed finish breaking the deadlock. Croatia drew level just before the half-hour mark when Dion Beljo headed home from an Ivan Perisic cross.
Two minutes after the equaliser Marc Pubill restored Spain’s lead, firing home a header from a pinpoint Lamine Yamal cross. The swift sequence put Spain back in front before half-time.
Yamal doubled his tally on 63 minutes, beating Barcelona teammate and Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic at his near post. With fewer than two minutes remaining Athletic Bilbao’s Nico Williams added a fourth for Spain with a crisp dribble and finish to complete the 4-1 scoreline.
In other Nations League results, Slovenia beat North Macedonia 2-0 with goals from Sandi Lovric and Aljosa Matko in Group B1. Moldova were held to a 1-1 draw at home by the Faroe Islands, Slovakia beat Kazakhstan 2-1, Iceland won 3-0 in Luxembourg, Estonia drew 1-1 in Bulgaria and Finland and Belarus played to a scoreless draw in Helsinki.
"We were very excited to bring the cup here," Lamine Yamal said. "To be able to win the game and bring it home is great." Lamine Yamal’s contribution strengthened his case for the Ballon d’Or, with voting having closed on Monday and the winner announced on 26 October.
Spain next play Czechia on Saturday in Group A3. The match is their next Nations League fixture.