Luis de la Fuente says Mikel Merino would be “more valued” in another country after the midfielder scored twice as Spain came from behind to beat Croatia 2-1 and reach the Nations League quarter-finals.
Spain made it four wins from four in their Group A3 campaign at Stadion Poljud on Tuesday, extending their unbeaten run in all competitions to 43 matches, including 33 victories and 10 draws.
Croatia took a deserved lead in the 13th minute when Ivan Perisic finished well. The hosts came close to adding a second shortly afterwards, but Unai Simon recovered from an earlier mistake to deny Igor Matanovic.
De la Fuente introduced Merino for Alex Baena at half-time and the Arsenal midfielder equalised shortly after the hour mark with an excellent finish.
Croatia were reduced to 10 men in the 79th minute when Perisic was shown a second yellow card for fouling Marc Cucurella. Spain took advantage two minutes from full-time, Merino driving the winner into the net with his left foot.
The 28-year-old has become an influential substitute for Spain. Since the start of 2025, he has scored six goals in 16 appearances from the bench for La Roja – more than any other player for a European national team during that period.
Merino has scored seven times as a substitute during De la Fuente’s tenure, also the highest total among Spain players under the manager.
“It’s an honour to coach a player like that,” De la Fuente said. “In another country he would be more valued.
“I hope more will be done. Merino is one of the best in the world in his position.
“He has the class to play in any team and can always play, obviously. He knows how to understand these moments of the match.
“He has that gift that is the sense of the goal, for important goals, too.”
Despite their latest victory, Spain have conceded in each of their past four matches, allowing five goals in total. It is their longest run without a clean sheet since June 2025, when they went six matches without one.
The five goals conceded in the past four games equal the number Spain let in across their previous 18 matches. Croatia also narrowly led the expected goals figures, recording 1.17 from 10 shots compared with Spain’s 1.08 from the same number of attempts.
De la Fuente said he expected his side to respond after a difficult opening half.
“I am proud for many reasons,” he added. “But it was a game that we knew would go like that, where the opponent would have that attitude.
“We knew how to understand it. In the first half we suffered. It was hard, but in the second we wore down the opponent, we created chances and Merino appeared once again.
“We saw a team that did not give up. This was achieved by very ambitious footballers. They are insatiable. They want more and more.
“They are not satisfied with anything other than winning. If you do everything you have to do to win, you’re closer to doing it.
“We are not satisfied with being world champions. There is room to improve. We have to grow as a team.”
