Fabian Ruiz downed the Croatians with a goal and an assist. We achieved everything we wanted, he said after Spain’s clear win

The Spanish defeated the unpredictable Croatians 3: 0. The man of the match was midfielder Fabian Ruiz, who downed his opponents with a goal and an assist. In his words, the Spaniards achieved everything they wanted to achieve.

Group B was referred to as the group of death before the start of the championship. Fate sent defending champions Italy, underdog Albania and Croatia and Spain to it. It was the latter two teams who faced each other in a friendly on Saturday night. And it was clear-cut.

The Spaniards literally dismantled their opponents. The winning goal was scored by captain Alvaro Morata after half an hour of play, after which Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal completed the scoreline to 3-0. It was the first national team goal for the Real defender at the age of thirty-two.

“I am very happy for everyone who worked so hard to achieve this victory. We have a very ambitious team, but we have to keep our feet on the ground. Now we have to think about Italy,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said in an interview with UEFA.

Lamine Yamal is the youngest player in Euro history

The Croatians could have at least reduced the deficit with ten minutes to go, but substitute Bruno Petkovic first missed a penalty kick and then had his goal taken away by a controversial decision by the video referee. The Spaniards thus recorded an unexpectedly easy win.

“The most important thing is that we won. The assist was important, but so was the goal. I think the team did really well. We did what we wanted to do and worked very hard for it. We achieved everything we wanted to achieve as a team,” Fabian Ruiz, the second goal scorer, said after the game.

The PSG midfielder was named man of the match thanks to a great performance that was spiced up by a goal and an assist on Morata’s opening goal. His Barcelona teammate Lamine Yamal, on the other hand, entered the match as the youngest player ever.

He was just 16 years and 338 days old at the time of the match, and despite his youth, he helped defuse the Croatians’ chances of success with a great performance, highlighted by an assist on Carvajal’s third goal. The Spaniards started the 17th European Championship in style.

Source: CT Sport, UEFA.com