Spain 3-0 Croatia: Lamine Yamal makes history as La Roja defeat Croatia in group

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.