Czechia v Spain
Spain beat Czechia to extend record unbeaten run to 43 games
Spain remain perfect after five matches in Group Three of Nations League A after a hard-fought 2-0 win at 10-man Czechia on Thursday.
With England able to edge out Croatia by a 2-1 score at Wembley, Luis de la Fuente watched his World Cup winners claim all three points with Alex Baena's 39th-minute spot kick opening their account.
Czechia's task was made more difficult when Ladislav Krejcí received a red card midway through the second half and a stoppage-time effort by Marc Pubill clinched Spain's fifth consecutive win in the Nations League to extend their own record-breaking victory streak to 43 matches in all competitions.
After an inconspicuous start in Prague, Tottenham full-back Pedro Porro was cautioned for a bad tackle on Lukás Provod before Spain started to dominate and Ferran Torres had two efforts.
It was followed by Marc Cucurella and Dean Huijsen threatening before the deadlock should have been broken in the 32nd minute.
Cucurella's corner found Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsí but he headed against the crossbar.
Four minutes later, Lukas Ambros was penalised for handball inside the area and this time Spain went ahead with Baena able to fire into the bottom corner.
It was almost 2-0 before halftime, but Fabián Ruiz struck the post.
VAR denied Spain again after the break with an effort by Yéremy Pino ruled out and Czechia rallied with Krejci heading wide before David Zima went close.
Krejci missed a guilt-edged chance after the hour mark following a cross by Vladimír Coufal.
Arsenal's Mikel Merino was introduced with 24 minutes left and then Krejci received his marching orders for a poor tackle on Roberto Fernández.
Spain pushed to find a second to wrap up the points with Baena thwarted by Matej Kovár, but Pubill secured victory in stoppage time when he won the ball back inside Czechia's half before he rolled into the bottom corner.