Croatia suffered the biggest defeat in their history as Spain thrashed them 6-0 in Tuesday’s Nations League, while Belgium beat Iceland 3-0 in their encounter.
Spain 6-0 Croatia
Ivan Santini and Ivan Perisic missed good early chances before Spain seized control 23 minutes in, as Saul headed the ball in off the turf after being picked out by Dani Carvajal’s sublime cross to give Spain the lead.
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It got worse for Croatia before the break as Asensio forced two memorable goals in the space of two minutes, first blasting beyond Kalinic from 25 yards before driving towards the box and curling a stunning effort that smacked the crossbar and went in off the unfortunate goalkeeper.
Zlatko Dalic cut a furious figure on the touchline, and his mood darkened just four minutes after the restart, when Rodrigo beat the offside trap to latch onto a pass from Asensio and slot between Kalinic’s legs.
The Real Madrid winger got his second assist of a spectacular display before the hour mark, his corner finding the head of the unmarked Ramos, who made no mistake from eight yards out.
A memorable result was capped by a stylish sixth from Isco, who took a touch from Asensio’s pass and fired high into the net across the helpless Kalinic.
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Belgium 3-0 Iceland
Iceland made the early running, perhaps keen to atone for Saturday’s humbling, but the visitors slowly turned the screw and opened the scoring from the spot with their first real opening, Hazard converting after Sverrir Ingi Ingason tangled with Lukaku.
The hosts came out rejuvenated at the start of the second half but, once again, it did not last and Thomas Meunier should have added a third when he turned Hazard’s pinpoint cross wide. The same man struck the foot of the post shortly afterwards when he looked destined to score, dashing into the area on the right and shooting low past the goalkeeper.
Gylfi Sigurdsson belatedly stung the palms of Thibaut Courtois with Iceland’s first effort of note, yet there never appeared a real danger of Belgium ceding their comfortable advantage and Lukaku beat Ingason to a low cross to net the third.
In other Nations League results:
