MADRID: Portugal striker Ricardo Horta grabbed a late equaliser to earn his side a 1-1 draw with Spain in their Nations League opener at Estadio Benito Villamarin in Seville on Thursday.

Alvaro Morata had given Spain the lead but Horta’s goal ensured the great rivals drew for the fourth time in a row. Portugal have not won a competitive game against Spain since 2004 and have never beaten them on Spanish soil.

“It tastes good because Spain is strong and we were playing away. It was a good result for Portugal,” midfielder Bernardo Silva said. “We already knew them very well, but it’s tough to play against them.”

The draw means neither of the two favourites in League A 2 claim the early advantage and allowed the Czech Republic to go to the top thanks to a 2-1 win over Switzerland sealed by an own goal by Swiss midfielder Djibril Sow.

Spain play the Czechs in Prague on Sunday while Portugal are at home to Switzerland.

“We’ve had chances, we haven’t scored and they equalised. We have to keep working,” Morata said.

Spain made a lively start and Morata put them ahead from close range following a fine passing movement involving midfielders Gavi and Pablo Sarabia in the 25th minute.

The 29-year-old, hoping to play his first World Cup this year, is now three goals away from Raul’s national squad record of 61 across all age categories.

Spain were in sight of victory until Joao Cancelo exchanged a neat one-two with Goncalo Guedes down the right before firing a cross into Horta, who was all alone and made no mistake in the 82nd minute.

An early Jan Kuchta strike and a second-half own goal gave the Czechs victory over Switzerland in an entertaining match in Prague.

Kuchta opened the scoring in the 11th minute when the forward took advantage of a defensive mistake following a long throw-in to tap in his first international goal.

Noah Okafor levelled for the visitors just before the break after he pounced on a loose ball inside the penalty area and slammed a shot from close range that cannoned off the underside of the crossbar into the corner of the net.

Both teams attacked throughout the match but it was the Czech efforts that paid off in the 58th minute when Jakub Jankto sent in a cross that deflected off Sow into the net.

Israel and Iceland played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in group B2, Celtic’s Liel Abada giving Israel the lead before goals from Thorir Johann Helgason and Arnor Sigurdsson looked to have secured all three points for the visitors.

Substitute Shon Weissman had other ideas and equalised for the home side six minutes from the end.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland scored the only goal in the 26th minute as Norway edged Serbia 1-0 in Belgrade, with Sweden also winning away from home in group B4 thanks to a penalty from captain Emil Forsberg and a late goal from Tottenham Hotspur’s Dejan Kulusevski in Slovenia.

There were also two away wins in group C2 as Kosovo beat Cyprus 2-0 and Greece defeated Northern Ireland 1-0, captain Tasos Bakasetas scoring the only goal late in the first half at Windsor Park.

Georgia enjoyed the biggest win of the evening as they beat Gibraltar 4-0, with Bulgaria and North Macedonia drawing 1-1 and Estonia beating San Marino 2-0.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2022