Barcelona’s young superstars Pedri and Lamine Yamal were at the heart of Spain’s excellent start to Euro 2024 as La Roja ran out 3-0 winners over Croatia in their high-profile Group B opener on Saturday in Berlin.
Spain started the game by dominating the ball as they usually do, with Yamal getting involved early and often on the right wing while Pedri played as a true number 10 and made runs all over the final third looking to find spaces and combine with his teammates.
Croatia mostly defended and avoided major danger in the first 25 minutes, and slowly began growing into the game as their great midfield trio became more involved in the action.
The contest was as tight as expected at the half-hour mark, but a five-minute spell of Spanish brilliance changed everything: first came a fantastic through ball by Fabián Ruiz and a very composed finish from Álvaro Morata, and five minutes later Pedri found Fabián who scored a sensational solo goal to double Spain’s lead.
Croatia then created and missed three huge chances to get back in the game, and were punished just before halftime as Yamal put in a spectacular cross to assist Dani Carvajal to triple La Roja’s advantage and seemingly end the contest at the break.
The start of the second half was wild, with Yamal denied a historic goal by a brilliant save from Dominik Livakovic and Spain somehow stopping Croatia again thanks to a Marc Cucurella goal-line clearance and a great save from Unai Simón all within the first 10 minutes of the period.
Pedri’s fantastic performance ended at the hour mark when he was replaced by Dani Olmo, and the game went into a lull as both coaches began making substitutions with their next group matches in mind. Neither team looked too interest in pushing for a goal, and it seemed as though we were in for a boring finish.
Then Unai Simón made an error with 10 minutes left that led to a Rodri penalty on Bruno Petkovic, which was saved by Simón but ended up in the net as Petkovic scored a tap-in after Ivan Perisic got to the rebound first. The goal was ruled out for an encroachment on Perisic, however, and Spain’s clean sheet remained intact.
A third Barça man came on for some action at the end as Ferran Torres replaced Yamal with five minutes to go. Ferran was his usual aggressive self and tried getting a couple of late shots away, but another goal never came and Spain cruised to the finish.
The final whistle came to end an impressive win for La Roja, who began their journey in the toughest group in the tournament with three big points and a very good attacking display. Their defensive vulnerabilities might be exploited by better teams later in the tournament, but they’ve clearly shown can score against anyone.
Yamal was spectacular to the surprise of absolutely nobody despite his age, and Pedri quietly had a brilliant game himself. Those two will no doubt be involved in everything good Spain do in Germany over the next month, and La Roja have no doubt made quite the statement.
