Oviedo (Spain) (AFP) – Guided again by its prodigy Lamine Yamal, Spain, reigning world champion, continued the celebration on Saturday against the Czech Republic (3-1) for its second home match since its coronation, during the third day of the Nations League.

Published on: 03/10/2026 - 23:02Modified on: 03/10/2026 - 23:58

Despite a great scare at the end of the match, the La Roja players imposed their law on Oviedo, at the Carlos Tartiere stadium, and extended their crazy streak of invincibility to 41 matches thanks to a superb curling strike from Lamine Yamal (6th, 1-0), a perfect finish from the Spanish captain Rodri (35th, 2-0) and an opportunistic recovery from Mikel Merino (89th, 3-1).

Luis De la Fuente's men, winners of their first three matches, thus retain first place in Group 3 ahead of England (2nd, 6 points), who had just improved their goal difference in Croatia (7-0).

To explain the drop in performance of his players in the second half, the Spanish coach highlighted the "difficult balance" between the "need to win" and "prioritize the health of the players" to avoid injuries, with matches every three days.

He also recognized that his team, largely overhauled with nine changes compared to the one which beat Croatia on Tuesday (4-1), had "suffered a lot" at several moments of the meeting, something they were "no longer used to".

Lamine Yamal still pressed

The gifted Barcelona Lamine Yamal, already a scorer in the second minute against England (3-2) and Croatia (4-1), this time had to wait until the sixth to make his left paw speak (6th, 1-0) and launch La Roja into the game, with a fourth goal in three matches.

“He continues to surprise us day by day. I believe he has so much talent, so much quality, that the best Lamine is yet to come. He continues to grow by leaps and bounds. He is already a reference at the international level, and he is becoming a legendary player,” praised his coach.

His new teammate at Barça Rodri, who had presented the World Cup to the Asturian public before the match accompanied by Juan Mata and Santi Cazorla, made the break with the flat of his right foot at the end of a rapid transition (35th, 2-0).

But the world champions seriously slowed down in the second half, after the exits of Lamine Yamal and Alex Baena, and were almost surprised by the players of Santi Denia, former coach of Spain U21 and Olympic champion in Paris in 2024.

Czech fullback Jiri Slama thus reduced the score at the end of the race with a cross shot from the left (2-1, 69th), and striker Ryan Naderi thought he could equalize by taking advantage of a big hand fault from Arsenal goalkeeper David Raya (79th), but his goal was canceled for an obstruction at the entrance to the area.

A warning without consequences for La Roja, still undefeated in official competition since 2023 and in an ideal position to turn during the last match of this window in Croatia, in Split, Tuesday.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.