It was the poster for this last evening of the international break and Spain overcame Portugal (1-0) on Tuesday evening, during the last day of Group A2 of the League of Nations, to win their ticket. for the Final Four.
To discover
Nations League standings
Nations League: schedule and results
The first half took a while to really get going with two amorphous teams not producing their best football in the first quarter of an hour.
Portugal were withdrawn into their camp, while Spain struggled to find the loophole to get real chances.
To simply note a loss of ball of João Cancelo in its own surface which very nearly cost the opening of the Spanish score by Pablo Sarabia but Danilo Pereira took care not to against the shot of his teammate in club (8th).
After a sluggish start to the match, Portugal then woke up by finding the most dangerous situations against a Spanish team in a real lack of inspiration: Ruben Neves (23rd) and Diogo Jota (33rd) saw their strike repelled by Unai Simon,
In the second half, Portugal started very strong after returning from the locker room with very high pressing installed by the Portuguese attack, which quickly provoked the chances of Cristiano Ronaldo (47th), Nuno Mendes (56th) and Carvalho ( 69th).
The changes made by Luis Enrique on the hour mark (Pedri, Gavi, Pino) allowed Spain to get their foot on the ball, regain possession while rebuilding from midfield.
But without real success: apart from two small attempts by Alvaro Morata (71st, 77th) well captured by Diogo Costa, La Roja struggled to be dangerous.
As La Roja pushed in the dying moments, Dani Carvajal sent in a long cross for Nico Williams who headed the ball to Alvaro Morata.
The Spanish striker had only
With this victory, it is Spain who joins Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands in the Final Four of the League of Nations.
Portugal lost their place as leader of group A2 and finished 2nd.
The next matches will be played in June 2023, well after the World Cup in Qatar.