Nations League: Spain ease to victory; Portugal held to draw

MADRID: European champions Spain claimed a place in the Nations League quarter-finals with a 3-0 home win over Serbia thanks to goals by Aymeric Laporte, Alvaro Morata and Alex Baena on Tuesday night.

With two games left, Spain have secured at least a second-place finish as they top League A Group Four with 10 points, three ahead of Denmark and six clear of Serbia, with Switzerland bottom on one point after a 2-2 home draw with the Danes.

Spain were missing several players from the team that beat England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final in July but still outclassed Serbia with 30 shots against three from the visitors.

Defender Laporte gave the Spaniards the lead with a close-range header in the fifth minute and Morata, who missed a penalty in the 54th, extended Spain's lead with a strike from just inside the box after 65 minutes.

Serbia's Strahinja Pavlovic was shown a straight red card for a last-man foul on Mikel Oyarzabal on the edge of the area in the 78th and Baena curled a delightful free kick into the top corner to wrap up an easy victory for Spain.

Portugal all but sealed a berth in the quarter-finals with a 0-0 draw away to Scotland, the first points Roberto Martinez's side have dropped in their four games.

The Portuguese remain top of Group A1 with 10 points, three ahead of Croatia, who drew 3-3 away to Poland, while the Scots are bottom on one point. The third-placed Poles have four points with the top two in the group moving into the last eight.

Poland fought back from two goals down to snatch a dramatic 3-3 draw with visitors Croatia in an action-packed encounter.

Croatia, who fell behind early, had taken a stranglehold on the game with three goals in seven first-half minutes but were pegged back and then had keeper Dominik Livakovic sent off late-on.

The draw left Croatia second in Group A1 on seven points from four games, three ahead of third-placed Poland. Portugal top the group with 10 points with Scotland bottom on one point.

Denmark's Christian Eriksen created one goal and scored another to grab a 2-2 draw against Switzerland, who were pegged back twice in their Nations League A Group 4 clash, to leave the Danes in second place on seven points.

Though the Swiss remain bottom, they managed to secure their first point of the campaign after three straight defeats, while group leaders Spain qualified for the quarter-finals with 10 points after a 3-0 win over third-placed Serbia who have four. Agencies

Also Read: UEFA Nations League: Germany seal quarterfinal berth, France edge past Belgium, Italy win

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