ANPThe Spaniard Alex Baena celebrates his goal
NOS Voetbal•gisteren, 23:08
Spain has qualified for the quarter-finals of the Nations League. Thanks to a home win over Serbia (3-0) in soaking wet Córdoba, the Spaniards are assured of a place in the first two in group 4.
To their great frustration, the Portuguese are not yet assured of a place in the top two, although things would have to go crazy for that to go wrong. In Glasgow, Cristiano Ronaldo and his team did not get further than a draw (0-0) against Scotland.
The best match of the evening took place in Warsaw, where Poland and Croatia played 3-3 in Portugal’s group.
Portugal is first with ten points, but both Croatia (with seven points) and Poland (with ten points) can in theory still reach the quarter-finals.
Frustrating evening
Portugal had a frustrating evening against the Scots, who took their first point. Furious with the referee, Ronaldo left the field with wild arm gestures. Portugal needs one point against Poland in the next international match to reach the quarter-finals.
Spain is sure of that. In the pouring rain they had little trouble with Serbia. Aymeric Laporte (header), Alvaro Morata (slide into the corner) and Alex Baena (free kick) scored the goals. Morata missed another penalty and Strahinja Pavlovic was sent off the field fifteen minutes before the end.
EPARonaldo is concerned after the 0-0 in Glasgow
The battle for second place in group 4 is between Denmark (seven points), Serbia (four points) and Switzerland (one point).
The Danes, where Christian Eriksen provided an assist to Gustav Isaksen and scored himself, drew (2-2) against Switzerland, for whom Remo Freuler and Zeki Amdouni scored.
Spectacular 3-3
It was not a bad match in St. Gallen, Switzerland, but the spectators in Warsaw had the most entertaining evening.
The Poles took the lead after just five minutes thanks to Piotr Zielinksi. The Croats turned it around in six minutes with goals from Borna Sosa, a beautiful volley, Petar Sucic and Josko Gvardiol.
Just before half time, the Poles did something back thanks to a diagonal slide from Nicola Zalewski.
ANPThe Croats celebrate Josko Gvardiol’s goal
After the break, the Poles continued to hunt for the equalizer. And it fell: former Feyenoord player Sebastian Szymański placed the 3-3 tight in the corner. In the final phase, Robert Lewandowski escaped an attack from Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, who landed on Lewandowski’s lower leg after kicking a ball with his leg outstretched. Red, the referee ruled.
The Nations League returns in early November, when the last two rounds of the group stage are completed.
