Euro 2024: slick Spain hammer Croatia as Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, 16, makes history
- Three-time European champions dismantle disappointing Croatia in Berlin, with Yamal providing an assist
Spain made a dream start to Euro 2024 on Saturday by beating Croatia 3-0 in Berlin, with Lamine Yamal becoming the youngest player in the competition’s history
The three-time European champions tore apart a disappointing Croatia at the Olympiastadion in the German capital, with Alvaro Morata breaking the deadlock just before the half-hour mark.
Fabian Ruiz soon made it 2-0 and Dani Carvajal got the third goal just before the interval as Spain seized control of a difficult Group B which also contains reigning champions Italy and Albania.
The day was also notable for Barcelona winger Yamal, who made history as the youngest player in Euros history at 16 years and 338 days old, which he capped off with an assist.
Morata’s goal was his seventh at the European Championship, a tally which allowed him to move joint-third on the all-time list alongside Alan Shearer and Antoine Griezmann.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 14, and Michel Platini, who got all of his nine goals on France’s run to glory in 1984, are ahead of them.
Ruiz, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder who set up Morata’s opener, produced a lovely finish from just inside the box for the second while Carvajal – who also scored in Real Madrid’s recent Champions League final win – prodded in Yamal’s cross for the third.
