Spain maintain perfect Nations League start with 3-1 win over Czech Republic

Spain continued their perfect start to the Nations League with a 3-1 victory over Czech Republic at the Carlos Tartiere in Oviedo on Saturday evening.

Lamine Yamal opened the scoring after just five minutes, collecting the ball on the edge of the penalty area before dribbling past a defender and curling a superb left-footed shot into the far corner. Goalkeeper Kinsky was unable to reach it.

The Barcelona winger has now scored Spain’s opening goal in each of their past three matches, underlining his growing influence at international level.

Rodri doubled Spain’s advantage before the half-hour mark. Pedri drove into the penalty area and the ball fell to the midfielder after the Czech defence attempted to clear. Rodri struck a powerful and precise shot into the net to give Spain a comfortable lead at half-time.

Spain manager Luis de la Fuente made several changes at the start of the second half. Yamal and Alex Baena were replaced by Victor Munoz and Yeremy Pino, before Mikel Merino and Fermin Lopez came on for Pedri and Dani Olmo.

The Czech Republic reduced the deficit at about the 70-minute mark when Jiri Slama found space inside the penalty area. His accurate low effort travelled towards the far post and beat Spain goalkeeper David Raya, setting up a tense finish.

Czech Republic thought they had equalised when Ryan Naderi capitalised on an error by Raya and sent the ball into the net. However, the goal was ruled out by the referee for a foul on Robin Le Normand, allowing Spain to retain their lead.

The visitors’ hopes of recovering suffered another setback late on when Ladislav Krejci was shown a second yellow card and sent off for stopping a Spain attack.

Spain then secured the win with a third goal close to full-time. Victor Munoz’s attempt was saved by Kinsky, but Mikel Merino reacted first to the rebound and fired the ball into the net to complete the 3-1 victory for La Roja.

The result gives Spain their third successive Nations League win, following victories over England and Croatia. Czech Republic remain without a point in the group.