Lamine Yamal double fires Spain to 4-1 Nations League rout of Croatia

Lamine Yamal scored twice as world champions Spain swept Croatia aside 4-1 at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in Seville on Tuesday, maintaining their perfect start to Nations League Group A3 and extending their unbeaten run to 40 matches (Reuters).

It was Spain’s first home game since lifting the World Cup in July. Rodri paraded the trophy before kick-off, handed to him by 2010 winner Jesus Navas, and the celebrations continued when Yamal struck inside 75 seconds — Alex Baena’s ball was dummied by Fermin Lopez before the 19-year-old curled home a first-time shot.

Croatia levelled through Dion Beljo’s 28th-minute header from an Ivan Perisic cross, but Marc Pubill powered in a Yamal cross less than three minutes later. Yamal then collected Pedri’s pass and drilled in from a tight angle in the 63rd minute before substitute Nico Williams added a fourth in the 89th (Tribune/AFP).

The win leaves Spain top of Group A3 on six points. “We’ve enjoyed his magic in the service of the team. In the future, he’ll be much more recognised for what he does and for his contribution to the team’s play,” coach Luis de la Fuente told Teledeporte. “We were very excited to bring the trophy here,” Yamal said. “To be able to win the game and bring it home is great” (Malay Mail/AFP).

Elsewhere, England earned their first win of the group with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Czech Republic in Prague, Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane scoring after Pavel Sulc’s 23rd-minute red card (Reuters).