November 16, Madrid Spain’s 2-1 victory against Denmark on the road in Group 4 on Friday guaranteed them a spot in the quarterfinals and the opportunity to defend their UEFA Nations League crown.

After a brilliant play in which he exchanged passes with Ayoze Perez, who passed the ball for Oyarzabal to score with his right foot, Mikel Oyarzabal gave Spain the lead in the fifteenth minute with a straightforward finish.

According to Xinhua, Perez had previously struck the crossbar and the Villarreal forward forced a fine save from Kasper Schmeichel in the 28th minute.

With Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino in midfield, Spain dominated the most of the match. In the 39th minute, Oyarzabal passed the ball for Dani Olmo to volley at Schmeichel.

following Albert Gronbaek’s attempt was deflected away for a corner following Aymeric Laporte’s clearance, the Danes were almost level one minute later.

After an outstanding performance, Perez was rewarded in the 58th minute when he scored his second goal in four games with a left-footed effort over Schmeichel after connecting with a superb ball from Olmo.

With qualifying almost certain, teenage Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado was given his debut by Spain’s coach Luis de la Fuente.

Gustav Isaksen was unfortunate to have his effort bounce against the inside of the post after Zubimendi was substituted out due to injury, but he helped his team get back into the game with six minutes remaining when Fabian Ruiz made a terrible error by backpassing to David Raya without looking.

The goalkeeper’s clearance rebounded off the forward and into the net after Isaksen closed him down, but Raya made amends in the last minute of extra time when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg made a full-length save.

Serbia and Switzerland drew 1-1 in the other group match.

Portugal defeated Poland, who were without Robert Lewandowski, 5-1 at home in Group 1 thanks to goals from Rafael Leao and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal also had goals from Bruno Fernandes and Pedro Neto. Ronaldo scored his second goal of the match to guarantee that Portugal won their group, while Scotland defeated Croatia 1-0 at home thanks to a goal from John McGinn in the 86th minute.

Northern Ireland defeated Belarus 2-0 on Friday as well, with to goals from Dion Charles and Daniel Ballard. Bulgaria won 1-0 in Luxembourg thanks to a goal from Andrian Kraev, while Gibraltar and San Marino drew 1-1. Marinos Tzionis and Grigoris Kastanos both scored goals as Cyprus defeated Lithuania 2-1.