Croatia 1-2 Spain: Super-sub Merino inspires second-half comeback

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 their 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 their 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 hosts should have doubled their 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 were 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. 

And Spain made their 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. 

Super-sub Merino proves his worth

With Spain struggling to create many chances in the final third during the first half, highlighted by their expected goals (xG) total of 0.57 from their five attempts, De la Fuente made the decision to replace Alex Baena for Merino, who turned the game on its head. 

Merino has made a name for being a key player off the bench for Spain, and he has now scored six goals in 16 matches for La Roja as a substitute since the start of 2025. No player has netted more as a substitute for a European national team in that time. 

The result also sees Spain's unbeaten run extend to 42 matches in all competitions (W32 D10), though there were some concerns for De la Fuente. The world champions have now conceded at least one goal in each of their last four official matches (five goals in total), their worst run of conceding since June 2025 (six matches).

It was also a mixed match for Perisic, who has been involved in five goals (two goals, three assists) in five matches against Spain, the most of any player against the nation over the last 20 years (level with Kylian Mbappe), before he was sent for an early bath for a needless coming together.

And though it was an improved performance from Slaven Bilic's side after their 7-0 thrashing by England, they came away empty-handed.

Croatia edged the xG battle with a total of 1.17 from their 10 shots, compared to Spain's tally of 1.08 from the same number of attempts.