Lamine Yamal Stars as Spain Beat Croatia 4-1
The 19-year-old scored twice and assisted another as Spain's Nations League win extended their unbeaten run to 40 matches following the World Cup triumph.
Lamine Yamal scored twice and set up a third as Spain beat Croatia 4-1 on Tuesday in the Nations League, their first fixture on home soil since lifting the World Cup.
The 19-year-old needed 75 seconds to open the scoring at Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, having also struck within two minutes of Saturday's win over England at Wembley. His left-footed finish took his international tally to nine goals in 36 caps.
Croatia levelled just before the half-hour through Dion Beljo, who rose to head home Ivan Perisic's cross. Perisic, 37 and now with 2 goals since returning to the Croatia side in November 2022, supplied the cross that briefly settled the visitors.
Spain restored their lead two minutes later when Marc Pubill headed in from a pinpoint Lamine Yamal delivery, and the same player turned scorer again on 63 minutes, beating his Barcelona team-mate and Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic at the near post. Nico Williams added a fourth with a crisp dribble and finish inside the last two minutes.
The result stretched Spain's unbeaten run to 40 matches, a sequence that includes June's final win over Argentina in the United States. Before kick-off, captain Rodri showed the World Cup trophy to a packed stadium, handed to him by Sevilla great Jesus Navas, a winner with Spain in 2010.
"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," he added.
Spain next play Czech Republic on Saturday in Group A3. Voting for the Ballon d'Or closed on Monday, with the winner announced on 26 October, and Tuesday's display did nothing to hurt the teenager's case.
Elsewhere, Slovenia beat North Macedonia 2-0 in Group B1 through goals from Sandi Lovric and Aljosa Matko.
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