Mikel Oyarzabal pounced on a horror slip by Swiss captain Granit Xhaka to seal a 1-0 victory for Spain in the Nations League on Saturday. The night’s other League A Group 4 match saw Germany beat Ukraine 2-1 in Kiev.
At the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano in Madrid, usually home of Real Madrid’s second string side, Real Sociedad striker Oyarzabal struck in the 14th minute.
The Swiss boldly tried to play out from the back, but Xhaka slipped as he sought to collect goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s pass. Mikel Merino pounced and threaded the ball through to clubmate Oyarzabal, who finished superbly past Sommer.
The Spaniards top their group, having kicked off with a creditable 1-1 away draw against Germany.
In Kiev, Germany picked up a first win in its Nations League group with a workmanlike 2-1 away victory over the Ukrainians.
After drawing its opening Nations League games against Spain and Switzerland, the win lifted Germany to second in the group behind Spain.
The results: League A: Group 4: Ukraine 1 (Malinovskyi 76-pen) lost to Germany 2 (Ginter 20, Goretzka 49); Spain 1 (Oyarzabal 14) bt Switzerland 0.
League C: Group 1: Luxembourg 2 (Sinani 12, 26) bt Cyprus 0; Montenegro 2 (Jovetic 9, Ivanovic 71) bt Azerbaijan 0.
League D: Group 1: Faroe Islands 1 (Faero 28) drew with Latvia 1 (Ikaunieks 25); Andorra 0 drew with Malta 0.
Group 2: Liechtenstein 0 lost to Gibraltar 1 (De Barr 10).
