Spain have taken a big step towards finishing top of their group in the Nations League thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 victory away to Czechia on Thursday night. Barcelona stars Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López and Pedri featured on the night as La Roja did not play very well without several of their best players, including Rodri and Lamine Yamal, but Álex Baena and Marc Pubill found the net to secure a valuable win on the road.

To the surprise of no one, Spain dominated the ball form the start and patiently passed it from side to side looking for chances against a tight mid-block from the hosts, who did a good job of denying spaces in the final third in the first half-hour.

Fermín López was Spain’s most active player and constantly made runs in the right channel to get into crossing positions, but the Czechs were well-positioned at the back and stayed resolute early on, not allowing a true chance despite the Spanish dominance.

But La Roja kept their composure and continued to attack in their usual fashion, until a penalty was given for handball in the box and Álex Baena fired home from the spot to give Spain the lead.

Fabián Ruiz almost doubled the advantage with a beautiful strike against the post, and Luis de la Fuente’s side had a narrow advantage but were in full control at the break.

Spain almost had a dream start to the second half as Unai Simón sent a perfect long ball from his box to find Yeremy Pino, who won the race against his defender and chipped the keeper to make it 2-0. But the goal was ruled out for a narrow offside, and the VAR lines after the fact seemed suspect at best.

Czechia were given hope by the disallowed goal and had their best 15-minute spell in the game, creating huge danger with long throws and set pieces, and the Spain defense was in real trouble for a while.

Then came the key moment in the game as Czech captain Ladislav Krejci was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity after a VAR review, and La Roja were given the chance to play against 10 men for the final 20 minutes as they looked to seal the win.

De La Fuente sent on Pedri off the bench to add more creativity in control in midfield, and Spain owned the ball in the final minues until Marc Pubill came off the bench to score the second, and the final whistle came to give La Roja all three points.

Given the absences and rotations for this one, Spain will be happy with a victory that pretty much seals top spot in the group as long as they don’t lose to England by two goals or more at the weekend. It wasn’t a great display and Czechia deserved a goal in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but a win is a win.