The newly crowned European champions Spain romped to a 4-1 away win against Switzerland in Nations League Group A4, despite being down to 10 men after just 20 minutes.
Luis de la Fuente’s side had been held to a 0-0 draw by Serbia in their pool opener but raced into a 2-0 lead in Geneva with goals from Joselu and Fabián Ruiz after only 13 minutes, before Robin Le Normand was shown a red card for a foul on Breel Embolo. Switzerland’s Zeki Amdouni halved the deficit before the break but as the Swiss pressed for an equaliser late in the second half, Ruiz netted his second and substitute Ferran Torres also got on the scoresheet as Spain hit the hosts with lightning counterattacks.
“If there’s one thing I like to boast about, it’s the pride I’ve always felt for this team,” De la Fuente said. “When these circumstances happen, one feels more proud. With 10 men we have been able to interpret the game in a masterful way. I am very proud of this team and every day we see that we continue to grow and that we can improve.”
Switzerland defender Manuel Akanji lamented: “The goals we conceded were unnecessary. There were communication errors, and the goals came too easily. When we were 2-0 down, we did well. They had a lot of trouble defending Breel. In the second half, we didn’t do all the good things we did in the first half. We ran into counter-attacks and were punished. Overall, we didn’t do enough.”
Spain sit second in their table behind Denmark, who beat Serbia 2-0 at home.
In Scotland’s group, A1, Croatia’s veteran Luka Modric scored the winner in a 1-0 home victory against Poland. The Scots are pointless and bottom of the pool after their late 2-1 defeat in Portugal.
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Northern Ireland lost 1-0 in Bulgaria in Group C3, while in group D1 Liechtenstein recovered from their defeat against San Marino to draw 2-2 away against Gibraltar thanks to a 104th-minute equalising penalty.