On Sunday, June 18, the third winner in the history of the Nations League, which was previously won by Portugal (2019) and France (2021), was determined by the results of the final at De Kuip Stadium in Rotterdam. The winner of the tournament, in which Ukraine was unable to advance to the elite division, was Spain.
League of Nations. Final
Croatia — Spain — 0:0 (on penalties — 4:5)
If the Spaniards needed 90 minutes of the match against Italy (2:1) to reach the final, the Croats fought the Dutch for 120 minutes (4:2).
Two years ago, the tournament paths of the opponents crossed until the 1/8 finals of Euro-2020, and then the Pyrenees knocked the “checkered” out of the tournament, winning in extra time — 5:3. Bookmakers considered the team of Luis de la Fuente to be the favorite this time as well.
However, in the first half, Zlatko Dalic’s team was not much inferior to the finalists of the previous League of Nations, and the opponents went to the break with a score of 0:0. There were no goals in the second 45-minute period. And after it — and overtime. The fate of the championship title was decided in a series of post-match penalties, in which Fortune smiled on the Spanish national team — 5:4 (goalkeeper Simon parried two shots from the Balkans).
By the way, in addition to the main trophy, the winners of the League of Nations will receive 10.5 million euros in prize money from UEFA (9 million will be paid to the Croats).
Let’s add that the third place according to the results of the final four was taken by the European champions, the rivals of the Ukrainian national team in the selection group of Euro-2024, the Italians, who won the match for the “bronze” the Netherlands — 3:2 (Dimarco, 6, Frattesi, 20, Chiesa, 72 — Bergwein, 68, Wijnaldum, 89).
Earlier, “FACTS” reported that the national team of Ukraine won an extremely difficult victory on the field of North Macedonia in the qualifying match for Euro-2024.
Photo uefa.com
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