Picture : Michael Olise scored the extraordinary french winning goal !
Nations League Statistics (Match-day 2, September 27-29)
Spain 4-1 Croatia
*Spain are the first men’s side in International football history to go 40 consecutive games unbeaten.
*Spain have won each of their last nine matches across all competitions. This equals their best winning streak under head coach Luis de la Fuente (9 wins between June and July 2024).
*Spain remain unbeaten at the Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium in Sevilla: 21 wins and 5 draws in 26 matches.
It is the stadium hosting the most Spain matches with no defeats, ahead of:
Vicente Calderón (Madrid) – 11,
El Molinón (Gijón) -11,
José Rico Pérez (Alicante) – 9.
*Lamine Yamal is the youngest player (19 years and 78 days old) to record 2+ goals and 1+ assist in a single match in the history of the Spanish national team. The next after him to do so:
Raúl at 21 years and 273 days,
Joseba Etxeberria at 21 years and 273 days.
*Spain has scored within the first two minutes of play in two consecutive matches (Yamal both times) for the first time in their 106-year history.
Yamal’s first goal vs Croatia at 1 minute 10 seconds from kick-off is the Spain’s earliest goal under De la Fuente, and his goal vs England 3 days prior to that, at 1 minute 45 seconds, is the 3rd earliest in this era.
*Yamal became the youngest European player to reach 10 goals for a national team since Harald Nielsen for Denmark on August 26, 1960 (18 years and 10 months).
Turkey 1-4 Italy
*Italy won an away match by a margin of 3+ goals for the first time since November 15, 2019 (3–0 vs Bosnia and Herzegovina).
*Francesco Pio and Sebastiano Esposito are the 4th pair of brothers to play in the same match for Italy, following:
Giuseppe and Felice Milano (three times between 1912 and 1913),
Aldo and Luigi Cevenini (once in 1915),
Filippo and Simone Inzaghi (twice in 2000).
*Francesco Pio Esposito reached the five-goal mark for the national team at the age of 21 years and 92 days.
Only two players have achieved this feat at a younger age:
Giuseppe Meazza (19 years and 261 days),
Gianni Rivera (21 years and 78 days).
Germany 0-1 Greece
*A historic victory for Greece, having defeated the only European world champion team they had never beaten before.
*Jürgen Klopp is the third Germany national team coach to remain winless in his first two matches (1 draw, 1 loss).
Previously, this had only happened to Sepp Herberger and Helmut Schön; they both went on to win their third match.
Belgium 0-1 France
*France have won all their last 8 competitive matches against Belgium.
*France have not scored in the first half of their last 6 matches.
*France have scored all their last 11 goals in the second half.
*Three players made their first starts for the France team (Andy Diouf, Jérémy Jacquet, Lucas Da Cunha); this marks the first time 3+ players have made their starting debuts in the same match since August 11, 2010 against Norway (6 players: Adil Rami, Aly Cissokho, Charles N’Zogbia, Guillaume Hoarau, Stéphane Ruffier, and Yann M’Vila).
*Zinédine Zidane is the 4th coach to win his first two matches with France, following:
Henri Guérin (1964),
Henri Michel (1984),
Aimé Jacquet (1994).
Norway 1-2 Portugal
*Cristiano Ronaldo has watched a full competitive match of his national team from the bench for the first time in as many as 18 years (Switzerland 2–0 Portugal, on Match-day 3 of the Euro 2008 group stage).
*Erling Haaland has scored 33 goals in his last 20 competitive matches for Norway.
Czechia 0-2 England
*Rio Ngumoha is the third youngest player (18 years 31 days) to appear in a competitive match for England, behind:
Wayne Rooney (17 years 156 days),
Jude Bellingham (17 years 269 days).