Spain rally to beat Croatia, Kane shines for England in Nations League

Oct 6 : World champions Spain recovered to beat Croatia 2-1 on Tuesday, with Mikel Merino scoring twice to extend their unbeaten run to 42 matches and seal a place in the Nations League quarter-finals on the final night of the fourth round of group-stage action.

England eased to a 3-0 victory over the Czech Republic in the other League A3 match, with captain Harry Kane scoring twice and setting up the third on the night he equalled Peter Shilton's national appearance record with his 125th cap.

Spain top the group with 12 points, while England, who all but clinched a quarter-final spot, have nine, and Croatia are on three. The Czechs are still without a point.

Three days after Croatia were trounced 7-0 by visitors England, they threatened a major upset against Spain in Split when Ivan Perisic sent a well-placed header into the bottom-left corner in the 17th minute to give them the lead.

But substitute Merino equalised in the 61st to help preserve his nation's undefeated streak stretching back to March 2024 when he found space in the middle of the box before firing a left-footed shot into the bottom corner.

Croatia were reduced to 10 men when Perisic was sent off for a second yellow card in the 79th minute and Merino completed Spain's comeback 10 minutes later with another left-footed finish into the corner of the net.

"I would spend the entire press conference thanking my players," said Spain boss Luis de la Fuente, who started five Barcelona players.

"We knew that the match was going to get like this, but we've managed to understand it very well. We haven't dropped our arms."

At Wembley, Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for his team after reaching 20 wins in the fewest games of any England manager in the nation's history, with