Spain made a winning start to Euro 2024 as they outclassed Group B rivals Croatia to claim a 3-0 victory at Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
Inspired by Barcelona phenomenon Lamine Yamal, making history as the youngest player ever to feature at a European Championship – aged 16 years and 338 days, Luis de la Fuente’s side scored all three of their goals in a one-sided first half.
The first two came in the space of three minutes as captain Alvaro Morata buried a one-on-one chance from Fabian Ruiz’s incisive through-ball, before the midfielder twisted and turned in the Croatia box and rifled home the second goal himself.
Yamal was involved in the build-up to Fabian’s goal and provided the assist for the third when his superb cross was poked in by Real Madrid defender Dani Carvajal for his first international goal, only two weeks after he scored in the Champions League final.
Croatia, led by 38-year-old Luka Modric, playing in his ninth major tournament, surprisingly had a higher share of possession than Spain but their defensive sloppiness was ruthlessly punished and, at the other end, they failed to capitalise on their openings.
Marc Cucurella cleared a Josip Stanisic effort off the line in the second half and Croatia then saw a late goal ruled out for encroachment after substitute Bruno Petkovic had won a penalty off Rodri following an error by Unai Simon, then scored from the rebound after the Spain goalkeeper saved his spot-kick.
The result represents a near-perfect start to the tournament for Spain, the only concern being an apparent knock to Rodri which saw the Manchester City midfielder substituted late on.
At 16 years and 338 days old, Yamal smashed the youngest-player record previously set by Poland’s Kacper Kozlowski, who featured at the last European Championship aged 17 years and 246 days.
If that was not enough of a feat in itself, the precocious Barcelona winger went on to play a crucial role in the victory, causing problems for Croatia right up until his 86th-minute substitution.
The highlight of his performance was the delicious, diagonal cross to set up the third goal but there were plenty of other eye-catching moments as he exploited the space behind Croatia left-back Josko Gvardiol to deadly effect, his speed, vision and one-on-one ability shining through in a thrilling display. (Sky)
