Forty international matches without defeat. Spain reached the mark on Tuesday night in Seville, where Lamine Yamal ran the game from the first whistle.
The 4-1 win over Croatia in the UEFA Nations League extended Luis de la Fuente’s European record run, and it got there in the most Spain way imaginable: with their 19-year-old Barcelona forward on the ball every time the stadium rose.
Yamal struck in the second minute. Alex Baena’s ball into the area was dummied by Fermin Lopez, and the forward curled a first-time low shot inside the far post past Dominik Livakovic.
Croatia equalised through Dion Beljo’s header from an Ivan Perisic cross on 28 minutes, but the lead was back inside three. Yamal whipped a cross into the six-yard box from the right wing and Marc Pubill powered a header beyond Livakovic for 2-1.
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The second half belonged to Yamal again. On 63 minutes he collected a Pedri pass inside the box, cut onto his left and drilled his shot into the net from a tight angle. Substitute Nico Williams added a fourth on 89 minutes, wrapping up the win.
De la Fuente: ‘A stroke of luck that he is with us’
Yamal finished with two goals and an assist, the kind of performance that is now routine.
“He always puts his football at the service of the group. It is a stroke of luck that he is with us,” De la Fuente said of the forward after the match, as reported by The Tribune of India.
“This group of players is convinced of that too. It is a very young team that has not yet reached its ceiling.”
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The streak began in March 2024
Spain have not lost since Colombia beat them 1-0 in a friendly on March 22, 2024. Across the 40 fixtures that followed, the squad has lifted the European Championship in 2024 and the World Cup in July 2026. Before kick-off in Seville, Rodri paraded the trophy on the pitch in Spain’s first home game since the final.
The previous European benchmark, 37 matches, had belonged to Italy between 2018 and 2021.
Mbappe injured as Ballon d’Or week approaches
Yamal’s double arrived four weeks before the Ballon d’Or ceremony on October 26.
One of the other favourites, Kylian Mbappe, hyperextended his left knee in France’s 1-0 win over Turkey on September 25. Real Madrid said the forward had suffered a hyperextension of the posterior capsule of the left knee, with France coach Didier Deschamps ruling him out of the Nations League window.
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Spain’s win kept them perfect at the top of their Nations League group. The next international window begins in November.
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