Super-sub Merino inspires Spain fightback
Mikel Merino was Spain's hero from the bench as his double clinched a 2-1 win over 10-man Croatia in the Nations League.
Luis de la Fuente's side looked on course to see its long unbeaten run come to an end after Ivan Perisic's early goal, but Merino helped turn things around after the break.
Merino's two goals came either side of Perisic's red card, with his winning strike in the 88th minute ensuring Spain remained perfect from its four Group A3 matches.
Spain needed Unai Simon to come to their rescue in the 13th minute with a point-blank save to deny Josip Stanisic's towering header.
Croatia's pressure told in the 17th minute when Igor Matanovic's stinging shot was parried by Simon, with Perisic the quickest to react as he nodded in the rebound.
The host side should have doubled its tally six minutes later when Simon's loose pass was picked off by Nikola Vlasic. He laid it off for Matanovic, but Spain's goalkeeper atoned for his error with a fine stop.
Spain's first attempt on target did not come until the stroke of half-time, but Mikel Oyarzabal's header was comfortably held by Dominik Livakovic, with Lamine Yamal then firing into the side-netting after he was picked out by Pedri's sensational pass.
De la Fuente brought on Merino at the break, and the Arsenal midfielder hauled Spain level just after the hour with a calm finish into the bottom-left corner.
From there, La Roja dominated proceedings as Yamal's deflected effort narrowly evaded the far post, but they were almost caught out at the other end when Martin Zubimendi's poor pass teed up Perisic, but his shot was straight at Simon.
But Croatia was forced to see out the final stages with 10 men when Perisic received his second yellow card after tripping Marc Cucurella, with the decision upheld by VAR.
Spain made its advantage count when Merino brilliantly took down Zubimendi's ball into the area before hammering a left-footed strike into the top-left corner, sealing La Roja's progression to the quarter-finals.
