Spain scored three first-half goals on their way to an emphatic win against Croatia on day two of Euro 2024.
La Roja’s new quick and direct style was too much for perennial tournament overachievers Croatia to handle at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.
Zlatko Dalic’s men missed a penalty and had a goal ruled out by VAR seconds apart towards the end of Saturday’s encounter and now have it all to do in Group B.
How the game unfolded
With half an hour on the clock, Spain took the lead. Croatia’s centre-backs were caught napping, allowing too much space between themselves, and Fabian Ruiz simply passed right through them for Alvaro Morata to chase onto it, and he made no mistake when bearing down on goal.
Croatia, who offered little to that point, sought to find an immediate equaliser. Mateo Kovacic felt empowered to drive past the Spain midfield and let fly from 25 yards, but his strike was easily gathered by goalkeeper Unai Simon.
And Spain punished their opponents back down the other end. Lamine Yamal – the new youngest player in Euros history – did well to bring the ball forward down the right flank before coming back inside, with play eventually worked to Fabian, who danced past Kovacic and Luka Modric before picking out the bottom corner with a piercing shot.
Again Croatia looked to get at La Roja from kick-off, with Marcelo Brozovic this time forcing Simon into a low parry, and Lovro Majer fired the rebound into the side-netting.
Another chance for Croatia went begging when Majer’s cross found Josko Gvardiol at the back post, but his effort slipped through the hands of Simon and behind for a goal kick.
With one final first-half attack, Spain added their third. A short corner routine ended with Lamal crossing in for Dani Carvajal, whose deft touch beat Livakovic at the near post.
In the second half, Spain nearly grabbed a fourth on a swift counter attack, which ended with Pedri slipping through Yamal, who was denied by a fine save down low by Livakovic. From the resulting corner, Yamal’s cross deflected off the thigh of Morata and whistled past the post.
Back down the other end, Spain’s clean sheet was preserved by the skin of their teeth. Kocacic’s cut-back eventually trickled to Josip Stanisic, but Marc Cucurella denied him with a fine block. Ante Budimir and Andrej Kramaric looked to convert the rebound in a goal-mouth scramble, only for Simon to push the ball away to safety.
With Spain in complete control, Croatia stumbled into penalty. Simon’s poor pass from…
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