Nations League roundup: Lamine Yamal sinks Croatia in Spain’s World Cup homecoming

Lamine Yamal scored two goals and set up another as Spain hammered Croatia 4-1 on Tuesday in the Nations League in their first home game since lifting the World Cup.

The 19-year-old was joined on the scoresheet by Marc Pubill and Nico Williams as they extended their unbeaten run to 40 matches, including June’s final triumph over Argentina in the US.

Lamine Yamal had opened the scoring within two minutes against England in Saturday’s Wembley win and took just 75 seconds to do so against Slaven Bilic’s side in Andalusia. The teenager’s left-footed finish took his tally of international goals to nine in 36 appearances.

Just before the half-hour mark, the visitors equalised through Dion Beljo’s header as the 6ft 4in attacker headed home from an Ivan Perisic cross.

Two minutes later the hosts restored their lead as Pubill fired home a header from a pinpoint Lamine Yamal cross before provider turned scorer again on 63 minutes, beating Barcelona teammate and Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic at his near post. With fewer than two minutes to play Athletic Bilbao’s Williams notched up a fourth for Spain with a crisp dribble and finish.

La Roja next play Czech Republic on Saturday in Group A3.

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’s captain, Rodri, showed off the World Cup trophy before kick-off at the packed Estadio Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, being handed it by Sevilla legend 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.

In Group B1, Slovenia beat North Macedonia 2-0 with goals from Sandi Lovric and Aljosa Matko.

Moldova were held to a 1-1 draw at home to the Faroe Islands and Slovakia beat Kazakhstan 2-1, while Iceland were 3-0 winners in Luxembourg and Estonia drew 1-1 in Bulgaria. Finland and Belarus played to a scoreless draw in Helsinki.