By Melody Gross 
The Spanish national team defeated its Croatian counterpart 3-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, in the opening match of Group Two of the European Championship. La Roja's goals were scored by Alvaro Morata, Fabian Ruiz and Dani Carvajal. Spain started the match strongly and put intense pressure on Croatia and controlled the course of the game, but through a counterattack Spain opened the scoring. Spain regain the ball in midfield, and Fabian Ruiz threads a beautiful pass into the path that has opened up between the two Croatian centre-backs, to find Alvaro Morata. The striker shot with his left foot and beat Levakovic. Shortly afterwards, Croatia didn't even have time to catch a breath, and Spain doubled the lead through Fabian Ruiz. Another beautiful attacking design from Spain, this time from the right lane. Pedri spotted Fabian Ruiz on the edge of the penalty area, the midfielder moved two opponents out of the way and fired a low shot into the Croatian net. In extra time (45+2) of the first half, the Spaniards increased their lead. After a short corner kick, Lamine Yamal sent a beautiful, tense cross into the area where Dani Carvajal, in a great chance, evaded the Croatian defense and with a deft touch made it 3-0. At the beginning of the second half, Spain came close to scoring again. Pedri passed the ball to Lamine Yamal, who appeared on the right side, and shot a ball that was well blocked by Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic. Croatia responded immediately and came close to reducing the score. After several carambolas, the Spanish defense was able to overcome the danger. In the 80th minute, Croatia once again came close to reducing the score through a penalty kick. Unai Simon made a huge mistake when he tried to play the ball with his feet and offered it to Madjer. The Croatian recovered it in the penalty area, passed it to Petkovic and as the striker prepared to kick it towards goal, Rodri appeared to commit a foul. Unai Simon saved Petkovic's penalty kick, but Croatia scored on the rebound. After VAR analysis, the goal was cancelled.