Pedro, meanwhile, was an unused substitute for Spain as they made mathematically sure of their place at the tournament finals with a 2-2 home draw with Turkey. Spain were virtually assured of qualification before the game – only a Turkey victory by a significant margin would have threatened their participation in 2026 – but the share of the spoils ensured they finished top of Group E with 16 points.
In other senior international action on Tuesday, Richarlison was an unused substitute for Brazil in their 1-1 draw with Tunisia in France, while on-loan Yang Min-Hyeok also remained on the bench for South Korea as they beat Ghana 1-0 at home – both were friendly matches.
After helping Croatia qualify for the World Cup on Friday, on-loan defender Luka Vuskovic was back with his country’s Under-21s for their European Championship qualifier away to Hungary – he captained the team across the 90 minutes and provided the assist for their second goal in a 2-0 win. Fellow defender Ashley Phillips, also on loan, played the last 12 minutes of England Under-21s’ 4-0 win in Slovakia, while Aaron Maguire was on the bench for Republic of Ireland Under-21s as they lost 4-0 in Andorra in qualifying for the same competition.
