Soler and Sarabia fire Spain past Czech Republic

Spain have taken over top spot of Nations League Group A2 after a controlled effort saw them claim a 2-0 victory over Czech Republic.

Carlos Soler opened the scoring, while Pablo Sarabia doubled La Roja's advantage with 15 minutes remaining to send Luis Enrique's men one point clear of Portugal, who fell to Switzerland in a shock result.

The first real attempt of the match fell to Czech Republic, with Vaclav Cerny, in what was his first international start since November 2020, forcing Unai Simon into a great save on his low attempt on goal.

Jan Kuchta followed with another attempt soon after, but Simon was once again up to the challenge.

The missed opportunities proved costly as Spain took the lead minutes later. Marco Asensio's slick pass picked out Soler, who placed a cool finish past Ales Mandous to the delight of the home fans in attendance at La Rosaleda.

A half chance from Jakub Pesek failed to threaten Simon's goal after the restart, while Gavi's introduction on the hour injected some much needed life into the contest.

The Barcelona midfielder made his presence felt in the 75th minute, as his turn of pace in the middle of the field kicked off a well worked Spanish move.

Ferran Torres eventually sent an inviting cross to the far post, and Pablo Sarabia was first to it, tapping home to double the advantage.

The goal killed off whatever hopes the Czech Republic still had of getting anything from the contest, as Spain saw out the final minutes with relative ease to send the 30,389 fans in attendance home happy.