Spain made a dream start to Euro 2024 on Saturday by beating Croatia 3-0 in Berlin, after Switzerland kicked off their campaign with an impressive 3-1 victory against Hungary while Italy had to come from behind to overcome a resolute Albania.
Three-time European champions Spain tore apart a disappointing Croatia at the Olympiastadion in the German capital, with Alvaro Morata breaking the deadlock just before the half-hour mark.
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Fabian Ruiz soon made it 2-0 and Dani Carvajal got the third goal just prior to the interval as Spain seized control of a difficult Group B which also contains reigning champions Italy and Albania.
The day was also notable for Lamine Yamal, Spain’s Barcelona winger, becoming the youngest player in the competition’s history at 16 years and 338 days old.
Morata’s goal was his seventh at the European Championship, a tally which allowed him to move joint-third on the all-time list alongside Alan Shearer and Antoine Griezmann.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo, with 14, and Michel Platini, who got all of his nine goals on France’s run to glory in 1984, are ahead of them.
Ruiz, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder who set up Morata’s opener, produced a lovely finish from just inside the box for the second while Carvajal — who also scored in Real Madrid’s recent Champions League final win — prodded in a Yamal cross for the third.
Croatia, the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists for whom Luka Modric started but came off on 65 minutes, were stunned and could not come back.
They thought they had claimed a consolation when substitute Bruno Petkovic tapped in after his penalty was saved by Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon.
But the goal was ruled out by VAR for encroachment by Ivan Perisic as Spain added a clean sheet to an almost perfect outing.
“Very happy with the win, for my (Euros) debut,” Yamal told Spanish broadcaster La 1.
“We’ve got confidence, we’re a very efficient team and we’re showing it. We’re happy because all the work from the last few months has borne fruit.”
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Italy recovered from conceding the fastest goal in the competition’s history to get their defence of the European Championship title off to a winning start on Saturday as they came back to beat Albania 2-1 in front of a partisan crowd.
Nedim Bajrami stunned the Italians and delighted a huge Albanian support in Dortmund as he smashed in the opener after just 23 seconds, his strike pulverising the previous record for the quickest goal at the Euros of 67 seconds by Dmitri Kirichenko of Russia in 2004.
Italy’s Federico Dimarco took a throw from the left-back position but played it loosely back into his own box. Bastoni was caught on the back foot, and Bajrami — who plays in Italy for Sassuolo — pounced to control and fire past Gianluigi Donnarumma at the goalkeeper’s near post.
Yet Italy’s response to falling behind was quick too, as Alessandro Bastoni headed the Azzurri level on 11 minutes and Nicolo Barella’s glorious effort put them ahead just past the quarter-hour mark.
From then on Luciano Spalletti’s team looked much more assured but then sat back.
Sadly for the underdogs, Albania did not manage another attempt on target and the second-lowest ranked nation in the competition could not find an equaliser despite their best efforts late on.
Substitute Rey Manaj came closest after getting in behind in the 90th minute, but he could not beat Donnarumma.
In Cologne, Kwadwo Duah and Michel Aebischer scored their first international goals as Switzerland — beaten on penalties by Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 — saw off Hungary in Group A.
Duah opened the scoring in only his second international appearance after making his debut earlier this month.
The London-born 27-year-old, who plays for Bulgarian club Ludogorets Razgrad, holds dual citizenship with Ghana and Switzerland, who will be relieved he opted to represent them on the evidence of a dynamic display.
After providing the assist for Duah’s opener, Bologna midfielder Aebischer netted his maiden Switzerland goal with an eye-catching long-range strike just before the interval.
Barnabas Varga’s seventh goal in nine starts for Hungary set up a tense finale, but Breel Embolo struck in stoppage-time to seal the points.
“I liken football to chess and today we got our tactics right. We used this formation for a particular reason,” Swiss coach Murat Yakin said of his team’s line-up which featured a back three.
“We focused on making the most of our strengths and we made our opponents’ lives very hard in the first half.” Hosts Germany thrashed 10-man Scotland 5-1 in the same group in the tournament’s opening match on Friday in Munich, and Switzerland face Scotland next on Wednesday, while Hungary play Germany the same day.
“We play Germany in four days. I dare anybody to bet one Hungarian forint on us. As of today that looks impossible,” said Hungary coach Marco Rossi.