Lamine Yamal inspires Spain as Luis de la Fuente hails winger’s team-first brilliance

Lamine Yamal scored twice and created another goal as Spain began their UEFA Nations League campaign with a second successive victory, beating Croatia 4-1 in Group C on Tuesday.

The winger was central to Spain’s performance before being replaced by Victor Munoz in the 68th minute. The result followed a 3-2 win against England at Wembley last weekend and left the World Champions top of the group as they pursue a second UEFA Nations League title.

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente generally prefers to avoid singling out individual players, but said Yamal’s influence was impossible to overlook after another impressive display.

“I don’t like to focus too much on individual performances, but sometimes it’s impossible not to do so,” De la Fuente said of Lamine Yamal following the match, as quoted by BBC.

“Lamine wants to show the world the kind of player he is. Today (Tuesday) we enjoyed his magic again, but he puts his magic at the service of the team. That says a lot about the player. In the future he’ll be even more well known for what he does in his collective play.

“We’re lucky to have him with us. Within the group, he’s very loved.”

Spain will play again on Saturday, when they host Czech Republic in Oviedo. They will then travel to face Croatia next Tuesday night.

Other results

Finland 0-0 Belarus

Moldova 1-1 Faroe Islands

Luxembourg 0-3 Iceland

Slovakia 2-1 Kazakhstan

Czech Republic 0-2 England

Slovenia 2-0 North Macedonia

Bulgaria 0-0 Estonia

San Marino 0-3 Albania

Scotland 0-3 Switzerland