Spain leave it late and Croatia stun France

Nations League holders Spain needed a stoppage-time equaliser from Arsenal midfielder Mikel Merino to draw 2-2 against 10-man Netherlands.

Substitute Merino, who has been filling in as a makeshift striker for the Gunners, showed his eye for goal again to steer in a leveller in added time of an entertaining game in Rotterdam.

The Dutch had fought back after going behind in the ninth minute with goals from Cody Gakpo and Tijjani Reijnders but finished with 10 men after teenage defender Jorrel Hato was sent off eight minutes from time for a studs-up challenge.

Late drama in Rotterdam 🤯#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/2Igg27OkwD

— UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) March 20, 2025

Spain, who had not lost in their previous 21 competitive internationals, opened the scoring through Nico Williams after a fast start to the game.

Elsewhere, Croatia’s Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic struck to secure a deserved 2-0 win over France in their Nations League quarter-final, first leg as the return of Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele failed to get the visitors to fire.

Croatia also missed an early penalty when Andrej Kramaric’s spot-kick was saved by France goalkeeper Mike Maignan, and the 2023 runners-up were full value for a win that might easily have been achieved by a greater margin.

France created chances and tested Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic several times, but it was a below-par performance on a night that had promised much with the return of Mbappe in particular after he sat out his side’s last four fixtures.

“We lost the first leg, we’re going to make sure we win the second at home,” France coach Didier Deschamps told TF1. “Our first half was below what we were capable of. We will do everything to turn the situation around.

“We were punished in the first half. We were far too wasteful on a technical level and gave opportunities to the opponent.”

Germany win; Portual beaten

Germany came from behind to defeat Italy 2-1 at the San Siro, with Bayern Munich midfielder Leon Goretzka heading the winning goal 14 minutes from time.

Italy went ahead when Nicolo Barella played a pass into the box for Matteo Politano who pulled the ball back towards Moise Kean and the ball fell to Newcastle man Sandro Tonali who drove his shot into the corner.

Germany equalised four minutes into the second half when Joshua Kimmich floated the ball into the box and unmarked substitute Tim Kleindienst rose to power a header past Gigi Donnarumma with his first touch.

The winner came from Kimmich’s corner which looked to have gone into the net without a touch, but Goretzka got the slightest of headers to the ball before it beat Donnarumma.

Manchester United striker Rasmus Hojlund came off the bench to net the winner as Denmark beat Portugal 1-0.