Nations League round-up: Spain beat Serbia as Poland and Croatia play out thriller

Nations League and European Championship holders Spain were comfortable 3-0 winners over Serbia on Tuesday night.

Aymeric Laporte, Alvaro Morata and Alex Baena were on target for La Roja as they retained top spot in Group A4 and booked their place in the quarter-finals.

The hosts had an astonishing 29 shots to two in what was a dominant night for the Euro 2024 winners, with Laporte setting them on their way just five minutes in.

Morata made up for a missed penalty to double Spain’s lead in the second half, lashing home to put Luis de la Fuente’s men in control.

Aleksandar Mitrovic missed a golden chance to reduce the arrears before Serbia unravelled when Stahinja Pavlovic’s yellow card was upgraded to a red.

Baena then sealed the victory with an exquisite free-kick to ensure the Spanish join Germany in the quarter-finals.

🇪🇸🏆 Luis de la Fuente’s Spain after winning EURO 2024…

🤝 0-0 draw vs Serbia
✅ 4-1 win vs Switzerland
✅ 1-0 win vs Denmark
✅ 3-0 win vs Serbia

The last time they lost a competitive match was March 2023 vs Scotland. pic.twitter.com/GlaPCVxHkh

— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) October 15, 2024

Poland 3-3 Croatia

Poland and Croatia played out a chaotic 3-3 draw in a game which saw the visitors end the game with 10 men.

Piotr Zielinski put the hosts ahead before three quickfire goals from Borna Sosa, Luka Sucic and Martin Baturina saw Croatia go 3-1 up inside 26 minutes.

Nicola Zaweski reduced the deficit before half-time, then the scores were level early in the second half when Sebastian Szymaski found the net.

Dominik Livakovic was then dismissed for a red card but Croatia held on for the draw.

Northern Ireland 5-0 Bulgaria

Northern Ireland moved to the top of Nations League Group C3 with an Isaac Price hat-trick helping the side to a stunning 5-0 win over Bulgaria.

The Standard Liege midfielder netted twice in the first half before another in the second half during a sensational display by Michael O’Neill’s side.

Between Price’s second and third, Bulgarian keeper Dimitar Mitov turned into his own net, with Josh Magennis making it five with a thunderous strike in front of a jubilant Windsor Park.

Nations League results

Poland 3-3 Croatia

Scotland 0-0 Portugal

Kosovo 3-0 Cyprus

Lithuania 1-2 Romania

Belarus 1-1 Luxembourg

Northern Ireland 5-0 Bulgaria

Spain 3-0 Serbia

Switzerland 2-2 Denmark