World champions cruise in Seville

The reigning world champions continued their dominance on Tuesday night in Seville, easing past Croatia 4-1 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán to remain perfect at the start of their Nations League campaign. In their first home match since lifting the World Cup in the summer, Spain never needed to get out of third gear — and the star of the show was Barcelona’s teenager Lamine Yamal, who scored twice, assisted another and ran the game in a near-perfect display.

Before kick-off, captain Rodri showcased the World Cup trophy to a delighted home crowd, with Luis de la Fuente handing a rare rest to his skipper and starting three Barça players: Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López and Lamine Yamal, with Pedri and Dani Olmo named among the substitutes.

Yamal opens the show inside two minutes

Just as he did against England at Wembley in the Nations League opener, Yamal had the hosts in front inside the first two minutes. A beautiful passing sequence down the left, a perfect dummy by Fermín López at the edge of the box, and a great curling finish from Yamal — converting Alex Baena’s cut-back into the bottom-left corner with a first-time finish — put Spain 1-0 up after just 75 seconds.

Through Yamal, Spain have now scored inside the first two minutes in consecutive matches for the first time in any competition since at least 2004, and it was just the start of another stellar performance. La Roja started fast and kept bringing danger with their possession game, with Fermín absolutely everywhere across the final third, involved in every good move and striking the woodwork after seeing a couple of chances go begging. Mikel Oyarzabal later saw a goal ruled out for offside, while Pau Cubarsí also shot narrowly wide from distance.

Croatia respond, Spain answer instantly

Croatia scored against the run of play just before the half-hour mark as Dion Beljo headed home from Ivan Perisic’s pinpoint cross. But the hosts were back ahead just three minutes later: Yamal played a corner short before eventually sending in a cross, which was met by the head of an unmarked Marc Pubill in the six-yard box for the defender’s first Spain goal.

The second half was played at a much slower pace, with Croatia determined to stop Spain’s momentum with tactical fouls and a few rough challenges, while the hosts remained comfortable on the ball and patiently searched for more chances.

Third goal, standing ovation, and a record night

La Roja found their third in the 63rd minute thanks to a gorgeous assist by Pedri and a beautiful finish from Yamal, who caught his Barça teammate Dominik Livakovic off guard and powered in at the near post to double his tally. Lamine was substituted shortly after and given a standing ovation by the Pizjuán crowd after a glorious hour-plus performance in Seville.

Croatia were done after the third goal and Spain cruised to the finish, but there was still time for a fourth: a sensational passing sequence that started with Rodri and Pedri ended with a clinical 89th-minute finish from Nico Williams. Pedri had earlier seen a long-range strike pushed away by Livakovic at the same end where Franjo Ivanovic curled wide.

“Yamal becoming inevitable for club and country.”

The numbers back up the verdict. Alongside his two goals and assist, Yamal created the joint-most chances for his side (two), attempted the most passes in the final third (24) and the most dribbles (nine), and won both of his tackles. Spain accumulated 1.77 expected goals (xG) from 16 attempts while restricting Croatia to just 0.44 xG from five shots.

History in the making

La Roja are now unbeaten in their last 40 matches across all competitions (W31 D9), the best such record by a European nation. Spain have also won each of their last nine matches, equalling their best winning streak under De la Fuente (W9 between June and July 2024), and they remain in control of Group A3 in the Nations League with six points from their opening two games. The world champions won with scary ease in Seville, extending a historic unbeaten run that continues to grow.