LESKOVAC, Serbia – Serbia beat Switzerland 2-0 to earn their first victory in Nations League A Group Four on Saturday, while the visitors missed a penalty and fell to their third successive defeat of the competition.
The breakthrough came in added time at the end of the first half when Lazar Samardzic floated a free kick from out wide into the six-yard box which struck the leg of Swiss defender Nico Elvedi and flew through the legs of the keeper Gregor Kobel and into his own net.
Serbia doubled their lead in the 61st minute after Aleksandar Mitrovic cut into the area from the wing and found enough room to curl a superb strike into the far top corner leaving Kobel with no chance.
Five minutes later and the home side could have put the game beyond the Swiss, but substitute Luka Jovic had his close range header saved by Kobel and it could have proved a costly miss when Serbia conceded a penalty for a foul by Kosta Nedeljkovic.
Breel Embolo stepped up but his spot kick was saved by Predrag Rajkovic, and Serbia saw out the game to take a deserved three points.
Serbia are third in the group on four points, with Spain top on seven after their 1-0 win over Denmark who are one point behind in second while Switzerland remain bottom with no points. Switzerland host Denmark and Serbia are away to Spain on Tuesday. REUTERS