Spain’s national football team secured a 2-1 victory against Croatia in the Nations League thanks to two goals from substitute Mikel Merino. The Arsenal midfielder has now scored in consecutive matches, following his crucial goals in the knockout stages of the World Championship against Portugal and Belgium. Merino is rapidly establishing himself as a ‘super-sub’ for the Spanish team. This win extends Spain's unbeaten streak in regular time to 42 matches and guarantees their progression to the quarterfinals. The Spanish team demonstrated resilience in overturning the result against Croatia. This result also places Slovakia closer to qualifying, though this was not detailed in the original report.