Spain 3-1 Czechia: Yamal and Rodri keep world champions perfect
Spain 3-1 Czechia: Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Mikel Merino scored as the world champions beat ten-man Czechia in Oviedo to stay top of Nations League Group A3.
Spain 3-1 Czechia kept the world champions perfect in the Nations League, as Lamine Yamal and Rodri struck before the break and Mikel Merino sealed it late against ten men in Oviedo.
Main photo: Biso / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
Spain made wholesale changes, with nine players rotated according to beIN Sports, yet still controlled the game from the first whistle. They had 69% of the ball, 18 shots to Czechia’s five and forced seven saves from goalkeeper Antonín Kinský.
Spain 3-1 Czechia: Yamal sets the tone
Yamal needed only six minutes. The Barcelona winger swapped passes with club team-mate Dani Olmo and curled past Kinský. Rodri doubled the lead on 35 minutes when the ball broke kindly for him inside the box.
Czechia grew into the second half and pulled one back midway through it, Jiří Sláma finishing after good work from Adam Hložek. For a spell the visitors sensed a comeback.
That hope ended on 85 minutes. Ladislav Krejčí, already booked for dissent after a disallowed goal, picked up a second yellow for pulling back a Spain player on the break. Merino then tapped in a rebound on 89 minutes after Kinský could only parry Víctor Muñoz’s shot.
Key stats
| Stat | Spain | Czechia |
|---|---|---|
| Goals | 3 | 1 |
| Possession | 69% | 31% |
| Shots | 18 | 5 |
| Shots on target | 10 | 2 |
| Passes | 766 | 340 |
| Goalkeeper saves | 1 | 7 |
| Red cards | 0 | 1 |
Rodri was the top-rated player on the night with 8.2, just ahead of Yamal on 7.85.
Yamal’s hot streak rolls on
The goal was another for Yamal’s growing collection. beIN Sports counts 12 in his last nine games for club and country, and Spain’s unbeaten run now stretches to 41 matches.
His club form has been just as sharp. Our sister site DGBN reported on Yamal and Raphinha scoring twice each as Barcelona hit five at the start of the season.
Group A3 race tightens
Spain top Group A3 with six points from two games. England are level on points after one more match, having earlier hammered Croatia in Rijeka, as covered in our Croatia 0-7 England match report. Czechia remain pointless.
Spain have already beaten England once in this group, a game previewed when England named 23 for the Spain showdown. The return in November now looks like a straight shoot-out for top spot.
Elsewhere in League A, France and Italy have been fighting their own battle for first place, as set out in our France v Italy preview.
