Spain defeats Croatia on penalties to win Nations League

Spain is champion of the League of Nations. After a goalless draw in normal time and overtime, the Spanish team won the title on penalties (5-4), equaling Portugal and France, the first winners of the tournament. This Sunday’s duel was held at Feyenoord Stadium, in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Spanish title confirms the team’s good phase in this reformulation process. Spain has not been champion of a tournament for 11 years, since winning the Euro 2012. On the other hand, Croatia is still without any title and loses the chance to put its golden generation on the highest place on the podium. This may have been the last time that star Modric wore the Croatia shirt.

The teams played a very cautious first half, opted to value possession of the ball and almost did not create. Croatia seemed looser and closer to the goal, despite Spain’s good start to the game, which did not hit Livakovic’s goal. The goalkeeper almost starred in a chicken. In the ninth minute, he went to hold an easy ball, but crashed into the crossbar and let it slip away. Morata grabbed the rebound but threw it out. The offside had already been marked.

In the 11th minute, Gavi also had a chance to score. At the entrance to the area, he played close to the crossbar. And Spain stopped there. Croatia started to get more with the ball and grew in the match. Perisic had an interesting duel with Unai Simón, but the Spanish goalkeeper won and made important saves to secure the 0-0

In the second half, the teams took a little more risk, but did not stop worrying about the defensive system, the focus was on not conceding goals. At five minutes, Perisic advanced on the right and crossed. Unai Simón didn’t reach and the ball stayed with Juranovic, who kicked cross and wasted a great opportunity to clear the scoreboard.

Croatia seemed to have control of the game, they even pressed, but did not score and ended up giving hope to Spain, which grew in the final minutes. At 38 minutes, Spain performed a beautiful exchange of passes, the ball reached Ansu Fati, who kicked from the penalty spot. Perisic saved over the line.

Fatigue was the great opponent of the teams in overtime. He lacked leg in many moments, which made the match tougher. Croatia, however, were superior offensively, but the ball insisted on not going in. The main chance was with Brozovic, but Unai Simón held another one.

The second half of extra time was Spain’s. The Croatian players showed more and more fatigue. The Spanish team then pressed on. At ten minutes, Rodri took a risk, Sutalo deflected and almost deceived the goalkeeper. The ball went close to the goal.

On penalties, Croatia converted their first three kicks, until Majer shot in the middle, and Unai Simón took it with his feet. Spain, who scored on their first four attempts, had their first chance to win at the feet of Laporte, who stamped the crossbar. The dispute continued and Petkovic was the first and saw the Spanish goalkeeper make another save. Carvajal followed and, with a little dig, confirmed the title.