Joselu opened the scoring after just four minutes as he latched onto the end of Lamine Yamal’s pinpoint cross to flick goal-wards.

The goal was confirmed after some controversy as Swiss goalkeeper Gregor Kobel thought he had clawed it away before it crossed the line.

Switzerland thought it had an immediate response three minutes later but Becir Omeragic had a goal ruled out for a handball in the build-up. Instead, Spain doubled its lead on 12 minutes as Fabian powered home the rebound from Nico Williams’s parried shot.

The Swiss were handed a lifeline as Robin Le Normand was shown a straight red for bringing Breel Embolo down as he went through on goal, and Zeki Amdouni rattled the crossbar from the resultant free-kick.

Amdouni did find the net to bring scores level just before half-time, sweeping home Embolo’s flick-on from a corner after finding himself unmarked at the back post. He nearly had a brace after the restart, but it was ruled out for a foul in the build-up.

Instead, it was Fabian with two goals to his name by the final whistle, after he tucked away at the far post in the 77th minute against the run of play before Ferran Torres added further gloss.

The writing was on the wall early for Switzerland, which has not won any of its last eight matches after conceding first in the Nations League. Spain, on the other hand, is undefeated in its last five matches when it has scored first in the competition.

It means, excluding friendlies, Spain is unbeaten for 17 matches in all competitions (W15 D2). It is its best unbeaten run under a single manager since Vicente del Bosque was in charge in June 2013.