Spain made a successful begin to Euro 2024 as they outclassed Group B rivals Croatia to say a 3-0 victory at Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
Impressed by Barcelona phenomenon Lamine Yamal, making historical past because the youngest participant ever to characteristic at a European Championship – aged 16 years and 338 days, Luis de la Fuente’s facet scored all three of their targets in a one-sided first half.
The primary two got here within the house of three minutes as captain Alvaro Morata buried a one-on-one probability from Fabian Ruiz’s incisive through-ball, earlier than the midfielder twisted and turned within the Croatia field and rifled dwelling the second objective himself.
Yamal was concerned within the build-up to Fabian’s objective and offered the help for the third when his very good cross was poked in by Actual Madrid defender Dani Carvajal for his first worldwide objective, solely two weeks after he scored within the Champions League ultimate.
Croatia, led by 38-year-old Luka Modric, taking part in in his ninth main match, surprisingly had a better share of possession than Spain however their defensive sloppiness was ruthlessly punished and, on the different finish, they didn’t capitalise on their openings.
Marc Cucurella cleared a Josip Stanisic effort off the road within the second half and Croatia then noticed a late objective dominated out for encroachment after substitute Bruno Petkovic had gained a penalty off Rodri following an error by Unai Simon, then scored from the rebound after the Spain goalkeeper saved his spot-kick.
The outcome represents a near-perfect begin to the match for Spain, the one concern being an obvious knock to Rodri which noticed the Manchester Metropolis midfielder substituted late on.
