Gvardiol steals in to ensure Croatia reach Nations League quarter-finals

PARIS: Josko Gvardiol continued his scoring streak to earn Croatia a 1-1 home draw with Portugal on Monday that allowed them to squeak into the Nations League quarter-finals.

Portugal had already sealed top spot in Group A1. The draw allowed Croatia to finish one point above Scotland who continued their late surge with a 2-1 win over Poland in Warsaw.

In Group A4, Spain, already assured of qualification, beat last-placed Switzerland 3-2 in a match of penalty kicks in Tenerife.

Denmark secured second place in the group with a 0-0 draw in Serbia.

In Split, Portugal took a 33rd-minute lead when Joao Felix neatly finished a sharp counterattack. Rafael Leao then missed the target when clean through.

With Scotland winning in Warsaw after a third-minute goal from John McGinn, set up by teenager Ben Doak, Croatia were heading out.

Gvardiol, ghosting at the far post, had a header on 62 minutes disallowed for offside. He repeated the move three minutes later, sneaking in unmarked and onside to squeeze a close-range shot through Jose Sa. Gvardiol, a defender, has three goals in his last six Premier League games for Manchester City.

Almost simultaneously in Warsaw, Kamil Piatkowski rocketed a cross shot into the top far corner of the Scottish goal to level for Poland.

In the 73rd minute in Split, left-back Nuno Mendes nearly emulated Gvardiol for Portugal but goalie Dominik Livakovic blocked.

In Warsaw, Andy Robertson headed home in added time to give Scotland a second win in four days, but Croatia comfortably saw out the draw they needed.

Scotland go into a play-off to save their League A status. Poland are relegated.

In Tenerife, Alvaro Morata´s clever turn won a penalty just after the half-hour. Yvon Mvogo saved Pedri´s low, hard spot kick but, after some pinball, Yeremi Pino, from the neighbouring Canary island of Las Palmas, scored.

Joel Monteiro dribbled through the Spanish defence for a spectacular 63rd-minute equaliser. Bryan Gil stole the ball in the Swiss area to put Spain ahead again five minutes later. Andi Zeqiri levelled again, with a penalty five minutes from time.

Deep into extra time, Bryan Zaragoza converted Spain´s second spot kick.

For both the Bryans it was a first international goal.

In Leskovac in Serbia, the hosts needed to win to overtake visiting Denmark and reach the quarter-finals.

On a night when both goalkeepers, Dorde Petrovic and Kasper Schmeichel, were in eye-catching form, the hosts had to settle for a 0-0 draw.

The goalkeeping was less spectacular in Luxembourg in League C, where Northern Ireland blew a two-goal lead in Luxembourg to draw 2-2 but topped Group 3 when Bulgaria threw away a lead and drew 1-1 in Sofia against Belarus. In Group 2, Romania beat Cyprus 4-1 in Bucharest to stay top of the group, two points ahead of Kosovo, who beat Lithuania 1-0 in Pristina despite playing the second half with 10 men.

In League D, San Marino came from a goal down to beat Liechtenstein 3-1 in Vaduz and edge Gibraltar to first place in Group 1.