Portugal scored twice in five minutes to beat the Czech Republic on Thursday and open up a two-point lead at the top of Group A2 in the Nations League, while Spain picked up their first win with a tight 1-0 victory over Switzerland.

Portugal had to go through the play-offs to qualify for the World Cup in Qatar, beating Turkey and North Macedonia to avoid an embarrassing exit.

But this convincing win came after they claimed a 1-1 draw away against Spain in their opening fixture before thrashing Switzerland 4-0 in the second, with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring twice.

Cancelo also got on the scoresheet there and the Manchester City defender made it two goals in as many matches by scoring just after the half-hour against the Czechs.

It came from some brilliant work by Bernardo Silva, who wriggled free on the right and found his City teammate inside him, who fired in.

Five minutes later, it was two and again Bernardo was at the heart of it, sliding through Guedes, who swept a superb finish beyond Jindrich Stanek.

The Czechs looked dangerous on the break in the second half and a goal might have made a game of it but Jurecka shot wide when they had a three against two.

Ronaldo almost added a third for Portugal but his first effort of the game was saved by Stanek.

In the other game on the evening, Spain registered the first win of their Nations League campaign on Thursday as Pablo Sarabia’s early goal was enough for a 1-0 victory over Switzerland.

Spain needed a penalty shoot-out to beat the Swiss in the quarter-finals at last year’s Euro 2020 and there was very little in this contest again, even if Spain were the more dominant side in possession.

Sarabia’s goal came after an error by Eray Comert’s heavy touch was also forced by some aggressive Spanish pressing, the loose ball seized upon by Ferran Torres before Marcos Llorente crossed for Sarabia to poke home in the 13th minute.

Neither side really looked like adding another and Switzerland’s best chance came towards the end, as Haris Seferovic beat the offside trap in the 87th minute and looked to be through, only for Unai Simon to rush out and close the space.

Seferovic still managed to steer the ball across for Breel Embolo but he was 30 yards out and the chipped finish drifted wide.