Spain vs Croatia: Yamal's Double Drives a Commanding Nations League Win

Spain against Croatia was settled inside the first half hour, shaped almost entirely by one teenager and a tactical structure that Croatia's mid-block simply could not contain. Luis de la Fuente's 4-3-3 pressed high and moved the ball quickly through the thirds, and Lamine Yamal was the engine of almost everything dangerous down the right. His second-minute goal set the tone immediately, forcing Croatia into a reactive posture they never truly escaped.

Slavko Bilic's 4-2-3-1 was designed to compact the central lanes, but the problem was width. Spain stretched Croatia relentlessly, and their fullbacks pushed high to create overloads. That mechanism directly produced the third goal, with Marc Pubill arriving from deep to finish. Spain's 64 percent possession and 16 shots against Croatia's five tells the story of a side that was tactically outmatched rather than simply outrun. The one moment Croatia showed genuine threat came through Dion Drena Beljo, whose equaliser at 28 minutes was well taken and earned him the match's best Croatian rating. The goal briefly unsettled Spain, but Marc Pubill's response three minutes later at 31 restored the lead before the interval.

Croatia's disciplinary record across the second half compounded their problems. Three yellow cards in the space of nine minutes, from Petar Sucic in the first half through Marco Pasalic and Josip Misic after the break, reflected a side increasingly frustrated and stretched. A team already defending with a narrow block cannot afford that level of bookings, and it opened space for Spain to exploit in transition. Yamal's 63rd-minute second goal came in precisely that context, punishing a Croatian shape that had become disorganised.

Nico Williams sealed it with a late strike at 89 minutes, but the match was long over as a contest by that point. Spain made three saves total, and Croatia managed only two shots on target across 90 minutes. That is not a flattering set-piece story or a narrow win ground out on one counterattack. It is a team that dominated possession, pressed with coordinated effort, and produced a winger operating at a level that makes his side simply very difficult to plan against.

Kickwise's pre-match prediction favoured Spain, and the result matched that comfortably. The margin of victory, though, went beyond what a standard favourite-wins outcome implies. Croatia's yellow card accumulation and their inability to hold any shape after conceding twice before half-time meant the second half became a matter of how many rather than whether. Yamal's 9.4 rating in the official numbers reflects not just his two goals but his persistent involvement in the build-up, the pressing triggers, and the moments of individual quality that broke the game open early. On this evidence, Croatia face a difficult path to staying competitive in League A.