Portugal draws at Spain, Haaland scores in Nations League

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Focused on keeping Cristiano Ronaldo in check, Spain left another Portugal substitute completely unmarked to spoil the start of its bid to reach consecutive Nations League finals.

Ricardo Horta scored his first goal for his nation to help Portugal earn a 1-1 draw at Spain on Thursday.

Horta was making just his second appearance for Portugal — nearly eight years after his international debut back in 2014.

The Braga winger came on for the final minutes to join Ronaldo, who had also been on the bench and only played the final half hour in Sevilla.

Spain’s defenders never let international soccer’s all-time top scorer become a threat, but they completely ignored Horta when he made his run into the heart of the box in the 82nd minute. João Cancelo found him all alone to fire in his cross.

That canceled out Álvaro Morata's 25th-minute opener for Spain, which lost last year's final to France.

“This feels good because Spain is a very strong team and we were playing on the road,” Portugal forward Bernardo Silva said. “This is a good result for Portugal.”

Teenager Gavi started for Spain in his hometown and helped set up the opening goal after the 17-year-old Barcelona midfielder stole a pass by Cancelo to start a counterattack. Gavi raced forward and slid a perfectly weighted pass forward for Pablo Sarabia, who squared the ball for the unmarked Morata to score.

Spain’s Carlos Soler had a chance to shoot from the top of the area four minutes later but hit it straight at goalkeeper Diogo Costa.

Rafael Leão almost leveled for Portugal in the 59th but goalkeeper Unai Simón got a foot on his shot to push it wide. Simón, however, could do little to keep out Horta's strike.

“We failed to finish them off, but we