Nations League: Lamine Yamal shines in Spain's victory over Croatia

Lamine Yamal scored two goals and provided an assist as Spain triumphed over Croatia 4-1 in the Nations League on Tuesday. This marked Spain's first home game since their World Cup victory. Yamal opened the scoring within just 75 seconds against Slaven Bilic’s team in Andalusia, building on his earlier goal in Saturday’s win against England at Wembley. This match brought his tally of international goals to nine from 36 appearances.

The match saw Croatia equalize through Dion Beljo's header, but Spain responded quickly, with Marc Pubill converting a header from a precision Yamal cross. Yamal then scored again in the 63rd minute, beating his Barcelona teammate Dominik Livakovic, the Croatian goalkeeper, at his near post. Athletic Bilbao's Nico Williams capped off the scoring for Spain with a fourth goal just before the match concluded. Spain's unbeaten streak now stood at 40 matches.

Rodri, Spain's captain, showcased the World Cup trophy before kickoff at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, receiving the trophy from Sevilla’s Jesús Navas, who was part of the 2010 championship team. "We were very excited to bring the cup here," said Yamal. "To be able to win the game and bring it home is great."

In Group B1, Slovenia achieved a 2-0 victory over North Macedonia with goals from Sandi Lovric and Aljosa Matko. Meanwhile, Moldova settled for a 1-1 draw against the Faroe Islands, Slovakia defeated Kazakhstan 2-1, Iceland won 3-0 against Luxembourg, and Estonia and Bulgaria ended in a 1-1 draw. Finland and Belarus played to a goalless draw in Helsinki. Spain's next match is against Czechia on Saturday in Group A3.