Munich, June 9: Cristiano Ronaldo hoisted up the Nations League trophy and “We Are The Champions” rang around the stadium after Portugal defeated Spain 5-3 in a penalty shootout in Munich on Sunday.
Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa saved Álvaro Morata’s fourth penalty for Spain, then Rúben Neves converted his team’s fifth to seal the win after their match finished 2-2 after extra time.
Morata was the only player to miss after seeing every player score their spot kicks before him. He was inconsolable.
Ronaldo had kept Portugal in the game when he equalized in the 61st minute of regular time with his record-extending 138th international goal after Mikel Oyarzabal had given Spain a halftime lead.Oyarzabal squeezed the ball past Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa in the 45th after Pedri played him in.“It’s a shame and it’s tough, but with time it will be more appreciated,” Oyarzabal said. “We struggled more in the second half, we were tired. The substitutions helped them. But we are proud of our team and we will fight to be close to winning a title again.” Spain, still the European champion, failed to display the cohesion and fluency in attack that put five goals past France in the semifinal on Thursday.
There was an element of fortune about the opening goal scored by Martin Zubimendi in the 21st when Portugal’s defense failed to deal with Lamine Yamal’s cross.Nuno Mendes leveled five minutes later when he drilled a low shot inside the far post. The 22-year-old left back was the player of the match – providing the cross that was deflected kindly for Ronaldo to score his equalizer, keeping Yamal in check, then confidently scoring his penalty in the shootout.
Ronaldo was already off by then. He had gone off, exhausted, to standing ovations and a hug from coach Roberto Martínez in the 88th. In his previous game, Ronaldo led Portugal to its first win over Germany for 25 years.
For Mendes and Paris Saint-Germain teammates Gonçalo Ramos, João Neves and Vitinha, it was their second trophy in a little more than a week after winning the Champions League in the same stadium.Mbappe’s 50th goal for FranceKylian Mbappé led France to third place earlier Sunday with a 2-0 win over host nation Germany in Stuttgart.
The Real Madrid star scored his 50th goal for France before setting up the other as Les Bleus rallied after a lethargic start.
France coach Didier Deschamps had made his lack of enthusiasm for the game clear the day before, noting his team had little to gain.
“The game is there, we’ll play it,” Deschamps had said.France was without injured PSG stars Ousmane Dembélé and Bradley Barcola. (AP)
