Spain secured a comfortable 3-1 victory over Czech after goals from Lamine Yamal, Rodri and Mikel Merino settled an entertaining match.
Czech thought they had taken an early lead when Ladislav Krejci’s header was spilled by David Raya and Ryan Naderi turned in the rebound, but the goal was ruled out by the referee.
Spain soon began to threaten. Dani Olmo released Yamal through the middle in the opening minute, although his effort went narrowly wide. Five minutes later, Yamal collected possession, cut inside and curled a superb shot into the top corner to put the hosts ahead.
Yamal nearly added a second in the 12th minute when he raced in behind the Czech defence and attempted to lift the ball over Kinsky. The effort bounced wide, however, and the forward was also flagged offside.
Dani Olmo found room inside the penalty area midway through the first half but could only direct his first-time finish too close to Kinsky. Spain did double their advantage before the interval, with Pedri pulling the ball back for Rodri to fire in from close range in the 35th minute.
Yamal tried to find Roberto Fernandez with a delivery across the box shortly before half-time, but the pass evaded the Spain forward.
Spain made two changes at the break, replacing Yamal and Alex Baena with Yeremy Pino and Victor Munoz. Munoz then created an opportunity in the 58th minute after getting away from Jiri Slama and crossing for Roberto Fernandez, whose shot was straight at Kinsky.
Fermin Lopez and Mikel Merino were introduced for Dani Olmo and Pedri after 67 minutes. Two minutes later, Czech reduced the deficit when Jiri Slama met a square pass from Adam Hlozek and finished to make it 2-1.
Rodri left the field in the 76th minute to warm applause, with Martin Zubimendi taking his place. A red card was shown in the 85th minute, although no player was identified in the match events.
Spain finally made the game safe in the 90th minute. Victor Munoz’s effort was saved, but Merino reacted quickest to score the rebound and complete the 3-1 win.
Spain’s starting XI was David Raya, Aymeric Laporte, Robin Le Normand, Dani Olmo, Rodri, Fran Garcia, Alex Baena, Pedri, Roberto Fernandez, Lamine Yamal and Ivan Fresneda. Their substitutes were Mikel Merino, Unai Simon, Marc Cucurella, Mikel Oyarzabal, Josep Martinez, Martin Zubimendi, Yeremy Pino, Marc Pubill, Fermin Lopez, Victor Munoz and Dean Huijsen.
Czech started with Roman Macek, Michal Sacek, Ladislav Krejci, Alex Kral, Ondrej Lingr, Jiri Slama, Adam Hlozek, Matej Radosta, Kinsky, Lukas Ambros and Stepan Chaloupek. Their substitutes were Michal Sadilek, Pavel Bucha, Ondrej Zmrzly, Kovar, Robin Hranac, Lukas Hornicek, Daniel Vasulin, Martin Subert, Martin Vitik, Lukas Cerv, Ryan Naderi and Ondrej Kricfalusi.
