Will Spain win on 2026-09-29?

Analysis

Spain host Croatia at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán in Seville on September 29, the second fixture of this UEFA Nations League window, with both sides arriving off wins in their opening matches. Croatia opened with a 2-1 victory over Czechia, while Spain turned around a deficit to beat England 3-2, a result that speaks to the squad's depth and resilience under Luis de la Fuente. That depth matters here. Spain go into this one as the stronger overall side on paper, and playing at home in Seville only adds to that edge. Croatia, under new coach Slaven Bilic, have had to reshuffle after Josip Juranovic and Martin Erlic withdrew through injury, forcing standby call-ups into the squad, which is not the ideal preparation against a well-organized Spanish side. Spain do have their own knock to monitor. Eric Garcia left the England match with left knee discomfort, though examinations reportedly found nothing serious, and he had already been withdrawn in the moment. No official lineups have been confirmed by either federation as of this writing, only reported likely selections. Watch the health of Spain's back line in the hours before kickoff. Confirmation on Garcia's fitness, and how Croatia's reshuffled defense holds up, will do more than anything else to decide whether the home side's edge translates into three points.