Portugal beat Spain on penalties to win Nations League final – as it happened | Nations League
Key events
Right, that’s all for tonight’s live blog. The Nations League is done and dusted for another couple of years and football will take a break for … a whole week, until the Club World Cup commences on 15 June.
Anyway, for now Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo will enjoy another of their many moments in the sun. Sid Lowe has been in Munich tonight taking in all of the drama and his report will drop here very shortly. Thanks, as always, for reading and for all your emails.
Nuno Mendes does indeed collective the Player of the Match award and here come Portugal for the big trophy lift. Hugs all round as Mendes is mobbed by his teammates.
About a hundred Uefa executives are marching onto the pitch ready to present Ronaldo and co. with their medals and the (admittedly quite impressive) Nations League trophy. Portugal legend Pepe is tasked with carrying it on.
Music is still blaring and most people seem to be having a fairly good time.
The cameras are focussing on Ronaldo, social media is going wild for Ronaldo… is this really about Cristiano Ronaldo? I guess it might as well be. He did score a crucial goal to get Portugal on level terms after they’d been second best for long periods.
He’s 40 years old and still thriving at the elite level. You cannot take that away from him.
I’m not sure who will get the Player of the Match award, but nobody will be more deserving than Nuno Mendes.
The PSG and Portgual left-back deserved to be on the winning side. He scored a beauty, created another, took a blinding penalty and largely contained Spain’s dangerboy, Lamine Yamal.
Portugal become the first multiple winners of the Nations League. They won the competition’s first ever iteration back in 2018/19, beating the Netherlands 1-0. It’s another international gong for Cristiano Ronaldo, to add to that 2019 success and Euro 2016.
It’s very harsh on Spain, who are probably the best international team in the world, but maybe lack the star quality of others and definitely lack depth in attacking positions. They’ve won plenty, mind you, so this pain should not endure for too long.
Portugal win 5-3 on penalties and win the Nations League
Ruben Neves has the chance to win it… and buries it low into the corner!
Cue wild celebrations! Ronaldo is in tears on his haunches, and there’s pain for Morata after his penalty was saved.
Penalties: Portugal 4-3 Spain
Diogo Costa saves a tame kick from Morata! Nowhere near the corner from the Spanish striker and easily parried.
Penalties: Portugal 4-3 Spain
Nuno Mendes smashed it high into the top right corner. Great penalty!
Penalties: Portugal 3-3 Spain
Isco for Spain. Oooh, Costa got a hand on that one but it’s smuggled into the corner. Relief for the Real Betis man.
Penalties: Portugal 3-2 Spain
Here’s Bruno Fernandes for Portugal. He was always going to take one. Ronaldo can’t watch!
Fernandes takes his time… and dinks it cheekily into the bottom left corner. Nice.
Penalties: Portugal 2-2 Spain
Baena sends Costa the wrong way and it’s all square again!
Penalties – 2-1 Portugal
Vitinha steadies himself to take the next one. A slow run-up and then a whipped finish to the goalkeeper’s right. Martinez celebrates.
Penalties – 1-1
Mikel Merino for Spain … buries it low into the bottom right corner.
Penalties: Portugal 1-0 Spain
Powered down the middle from Ramos! No problem for the young striker.
Spain won the 2023 Nations League on penalties against Croatia. Can they repeat that trick? The goalkeepers have been spoken to, the end has been chosen. Gonçalo Ramos has the ball ready to take the first kick.
Spain had so much possession, but for much of the second half and extra-time, their lost their bite in the final third. A lack of depth, perhaps, after the likes of Pedri, Ruiz, Yamal and Williams were all withdrawn?
La Roja have produced some outstanding moves in this game, not least for the goals scored by Zubimendi and Oyarzabal. But they haven’t quite been able to get the job done in Munich… yet.
FT: Portugal 2-2 Spain – game goes to penalties
Spot-kicks will decide the outcome of the 2024/25 Uefa Nations League.
There was a very late headed chance for Diogo Jota to nick it for Portugal. Roberto Martinez’s side have fought hard tonight, despite having much less of the ball than Spain. They got level via Cristiano Ronaldo and they’ll now have the chance to claim a second Nations League title – just as Spain will, of course.
ET 30 mins: Into the final minute of extra-time now, though there may be one or two added on. There’s not a great deal of urgency from either side to find a winner.
Of the players left on the pitch, here’s my guess at the five who will take penalties:
Spain: Isco, Morata, Zubimendi, Cucurella, Merino.
Portugal: Ramos, Fernandes, Vitinha, Leao, R.Neves.
ET 27 mins: Isco spins intelligently away from trouble and a fluent Spain move almost brings about a chance for Morata, before the flag goes up for a foul.
ET 25 mins: When it gets to this late stage, all the neutrals want to see penalties but if you’re Spanish or Portuguese, you want anything but.
ET 24 mins: Most of the noise is now being made by the Portuguese contingent in Munich. They believe their side can find a winner in the next seven minutes.
Portugal have gone back to sitting deep and countering, mind you, with Spain establishing some control.
ET 22 mins: Morata is now on. He will take a penalty for Spain if we get that far. I’m confused as to why Dani Olmo has not, and will not, play any part tonight.
ET 20 mins: How do you stop Leao storming through? By blatantly tripping him from behind with no intent to play the ball. That’s Pedro Porro’s answer to the conundrum, anyway.
ET 18 mins: Pedro Porro just tried to score from 47 yards out … and it was only just over, to be fair.
ET 17 mins: Suddenly, Spain resemble a football team once more, and it’s through Cucurella that they’re creating chances again.
There are indeed some tired bodies out there now. But Portugal seem to have more collective energy and focus, keeping the Spanish attack at arms’ length.
We’re back under way and Diogo Jota is on for Pedro Neto. Yeremi Pino is the Spanish substitution.
A succinct summary on email from Jay Wallis: “There’s no way England are going to beat these teams in the next tournament. Spain, France, Portugal, so fast and dynamic. England lumbering around like hippos. No chance.”
Half-time in extra-time and the teams are still level at 2-2. Yamal is trying to win the game virtually on his own for Spain, while Mikel Merino has had the mother of all stinkers in the middle since coming on.
Portugal are most certainly the better bets to nick a victory in the next 15 minutes. If not, we’ll have penalties.
Et 15 mins: Spain are wobbling. A well-worked free-kick has their defence at sixes and sevens. They need half-time here.
ET 13 mins: Leao is brilliant. He’s turned this game in Portugal’s favour and it seems almost inevitable that a winner will come their way via that partnership between Leao and Nuno Mendes on the left. Mesmerising football from both men.
ET 11 mins: There will be no penalty but the scuffles between the players prompted a VAR check for a possible red car. Nah. Handbags at dawn, nothing more.
ET 10 mins: Awesome play again from Mendes, razor-sharp in cutting his way through the yellow shirts, then going down under some pressure in the end amid calls for a penalty.
After those appeals were turned away by referee Sandro Schärer, the two sets of players come to blows. Will VAR take a look? Was there a push in Mendes’ back?
ET 9 mins: It’s pinball in the Portugal box, with Cucurella fashioning the final chance in a chaotic sequence, although the Chelsea full-back rushes his effort and it’s skied over the crossbar. A bit better from Spain though.
ET 7 mins: It is Portugal making most of the running now. Neto ought to have been given a free-kick after a messy challenge by Baena. The referee didn’t see a foul.
Surely Álvaro Morata will come on at some stage for Spain here? His experience and eye for a goal seem perfectly suited to this situation, albeit his club form hasn’t been brilliant of late.
ET 4 mins: Álex Baena is also on for Spain, with Nico Williams removed. His influence had begun to wane, after an exhilarating performance for the first hour.
ET 3 mins: Ooof, Semedo with an almighty chance to make it 3-2 Portugal. Leao and Mendes are dovetailing brilliantly down the left flank now and it probably should have been buried by the Wolves wing-back, who met Mendes’ low cross.
Porro replaces Mingueza in the Spanish right-back position.
ET 1 min: We’re back under way.
“Weary legs and weary minds,” says ITV’s commentator Seb Hutchinson of these 22 players.
The withdrawal of Pedri and Fabián Ruiz seemed to be the moment Spain truly lost their stranglehold on this game. Even with Ronaldo’s goal, you felt those two in the middle would create something decisive to win it for La Roja. Isco has done OK since coming on but Merino has been really quiet and Spain probably need a fresh spark either up front or out wide.
On the flip-side, Rafael Leão has injected pace and positivity to the Portuguese attack and, even with Ronaldo off the pitch, Roberto Martinez’s side might fancy their chances in extra-time. It should be an intriguing half hour’s football, albeit a period many of the players could have done without.
FT: Portugal 2-2 Spain – game goes to extra time
Yes, it’s another 30 minutes in Munich! Nothing can separate these two Iberian giants after Cristiano Ronaldo’s second half leveller for Portugal.
90 mins+2: Fernandes smashed it towards the far post and forced Simon to get a strong glove on it. That’ll probably be that …
90 minutes on the clock now. We’ll have another two minutes and if we’re still level, it’s 30 minutes of extra-time.
Zubimendi is booked for tripping Leao. Electric play from the Portuguese wideman. One final chance to whip in some kind of delivery?
88 mins: Yep, that’s it for the great man. Gonçalo Ramos is his replacement up front and Fernandes takes the captain’s armband. Ronaldo gets a big bear hug from Martinez for his efforts tonight.
87 mins: Dean Huijsen has been imperious at the back for Spain, his distribution really a thing to behold, especially for a centre-back.
Ronaldo’s race might be run here, he’s struggling with a knock of some kind.
85 mins: Yamal has done brilliantly there to nick it off Mendes and then hold off Vitinha to win a vital free-kick for his team.
Spain’s wingers are still having a big influence on this game.
So… extra-time and possible penalties, or a late winner?
Spain are pushing a little harder.
83 mins: Oh, Martín Zubimendi that is a stupendous piece of play. He just eats up the ground in front of him, going beyond a couple of red shirts and in the end Costa has to fingertip Isco’s blockbuster shot away for a corner.
81 mins: The delay allows Ronaldo to trot over to his manager and speak a few words of advice into his ear. Do as he says, Roberto!
Finally, Bruno Fernandes is allowed to take the set-piece …. and it leads to nothing, with Cucurella glancing a header away. Neto is then booked for a rugby-style tackle on Yamal.
80 mins: The taking of the corner has been delayed because Diogo Costa is down injured in the other goal. Is it cramp? Surely not.
79 mins: Leao sends in a teasing, curling, dropping cross from the left that urges Semedo to turn it home at the back post. And he would have done, had Cucurella not stretched out a leg to clear. Corner Portugal.
77 mins: From one wing to the other, Williams cuts in and plays it across for Yamal, who hammers a shot goalwards but straight down Costa’s throat.
An email from Joe Pearson: “Ronaldo’s goal was nothing special. With that push on Cucurella, even Barry Glendenning could have scored.”
No comment from me on that one.
74 mins: The two Portuguese players replaced are Inácio and Bernardo Silva, who looks shattered. And finally De la Fuente shuffles his pack in the other dugout, with Isco and Mikel Merino on.
Pedri and Ruiz are, somewhat surprisingly, replaced.
73 mins: Semedo sends a cross straight into the arms of Simon when the cutback to Ronaldo and others was available. Hmmm. Looks like Renato Veiga and Rafael Leão are going to come on for Portugal.
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