Rodri showed Seville the World Cup, and Yamal scored twice as Spain beat Croatia 4-1 to go 40 games unbeaten
Lamine Yamal scored inside two minutes again and set up Marc Pubill’s first Spain goal, as the world champions’ first home game since winning the World Cup ended in a comfortable Nations League win.
Sep 30, 2026
Spain’s first home game as world champions started with Rodri holding the World Cup trophy in front of a full Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan. Jesus Navas, a Sevilla man and a winner with Spain in 2010, handed it to him before kick-off. About 75 seconds after the whistle, Lamine Yamal had put Spain ahead, and by the end he had two goals and an assist in a 4-1 win over Croatia.
The result keeps Spain top of Nations League Group A3 with six points from two games, and stretches their unbeaten run to 40 matches.
Yamal starts it, Yamal settles it
The opener came from Alex Baena’s cut-back. Yamal met it first time and curled it into the bottom corner in the second minute. It was the second game running in which he had scored inside two minutes, after doing the same against England at Wembley on Saturday.
Croatia had changed six players from their win in Prague and left Luka Modric on the bench, but they did get level. Ivan Perisic crossed and Dion Beljo headed in on 28 minutes. The equaliser lasted three minutes. Yamal took a corner short, got the ball back and crossed from the right, and Marc Pubill was left alone in the six-yard box to head in his first goal for Spain.
Spain had the better of everything after that. Yamal’s second came on 63 minutes, when Pedri threaded a pass through and he finished low at the near post. Nico Williams added the fourth a minute from time after Mikel Merino set him up.
Modric came on in the 81st minute, and the Seville crowd stood to applaud him. He is 41. With the game long gone for Croatia, the ovation was the best moment of their night.
What de la Fuente said
Luis de la Fuente thought the scoreline could have been bigger. “The first half could have ended 4-1 or 5-1, and the second half was more of the same,” he said.
He tried not to single anyone out, and then did. “I don’t like to focus too much on individual performances, but sometimes it’s impossible not to do so,” he said of Yamal. “He is a very generous player, and he puts that wonderful talent he has at the service of the group.”
The Ballon d’Or question came up too, with the winner due to be announced on 26 October. “There are many candidates for the Ballon d’Or,” de la Fuente said. “If Lamine Yamal is not the winner this year, he will certainly win it in the future.”
Croatia get Spain again next week
England beat ten-man Czechia 2-0 in Prague on the same night, so England and Croatia sit level on three points behind Spain. Czechia have none.
Spain play Czechia in Oviedo on Saturday, 3 October, while Croatia host England in Rijeka. Then Spain go to the Poljud in Split on Tuesday, 6 October, for the return fixture, which kicks off at 12:15am IST on Wednesday. Six changes in Seville looked like Bilic keeping something back for that week. On this evidence he will need all of it, and probably Modric from the start.