Merino is the hero again, another big victory in England
Belarus won for the second consecutive match and climbed to second place in their group, while Kazakhstan could not even defeat the Faroe Islands at home and remains in last place in a group that includes Slovakia, the Faroe Islands, and Moldova.
Merino is the hero again, another big win in England
The 4th round matches of the Nations League group stage have concluded.
Perišić, 17 (1:0). Merino, 61 (1:1). Merino, 88 (1:2)
Spain defeated Croatia away. However, on this day, the Spaniards were trailing until the 60th minute and only achieved victory by utilizing their substitute forces.
The Croatians, who lost heavily to England in the previous round, started the match actively and opened the scoring on a counter-attack as early as the 17th minute: Unai Simón saved Igor Matanović's shot, but the age-defying Ivan Perišić headed the rebound into the empty net. A few minutes later, the hosts could have scored a second goal: the Spaniards lost the ball inside the penalty area, but Matanović failed to score while in the goalkeeper's area — Simón saved his team in this situation.
Croatia played a very good first half, and Spain's unbeaten run could have come to an end on this day, but Luis de la Fuente brought on his savior Mikel Merino after the break.
Spain failed to capitalize on several dangerous situations early in the second half, but in the 60th minute, they finally achieved their goal. Dani Olmo controlled the ball rebounded from an opponent's defender and passed it to Merino, and the player, who was forced into a center-forward role at Arsenal last season, accurately targeted the far corner.
Perišić, who could have been the hero of the match on this day, turned into an anti-hero: he first missed a favorable opportunity, and in the 79th minute, he committed an unnecessary foul on Marc Cucurella in the center of the pitch, receiving a second yellow card and leaving his teammates in a difficult position. The Croatians sat back in defense for the remaining time, but still conceded a goal in the 88th minute. Merino took center stage again, receiving the ball with his back to the goal inside the penalty area and hammering it into the net with his next move. La Roja extended their unbeaten run to 42 matches and secured a spot in the Nations League playoffs ahead of schedule.