Portugal defeated Spain to win the UEFA Nations League for the second time in history. The match went down to the penalties, where Portugal won 5-3 to leave the Spaniards heartbroken in Munich. Ronaldo scored the 138th goal of his career that helped his team level 2-2 in regular time.
The UEFA Nations League Final was supposed to be a battle between Cristiano Ronaldo vs Lamine Yamal. But as fate would have it, both players watched from the sidelines as the action unfolded with the penalties in the end as Portugal won the tournament for the second time in history.
High-quality football was on display in the middle by the Iberian neighbours as Spain drew first blood with Martin Zubimendi finding the net. Five minutes later, Nuno Mendes helped Portugal level the proceedings. However, at the stroke of halftime, Mikel Oyarzabal produced a classy finish to make it 2-1.
15 minutes into the second half, finally, the superstar Ronaldo was in action and he scored the 138th goal of his career to make it 2-2 in the clash. Both teams failed to break the deadlock in the regular time and the action went into the penalties. It was Ruben Neves who scored the decisive penalty that sealed a 5-3 win for Portugal in the end.
Yamal didn’t have a great day and he was substituted in the second half, while even Ronaldo had to be taken out in the 88th minute due to a muscle strain. He ran onto the pitch to celebrate before bursting into tears as he won the third international trophy of his illustrious career. For the unversed, this was Ronaldo’s second UEFA Nations League win, and he also won the Euro Cup in 2016.
“What a joy. First of all for this generation, which deserved a title of this magnitude, for our families. My children came here, my wife, my brother, my friends. Winning for Portugal is always special. I have many titles with clubs, but nothing is better than winning for Portugal. It’s tears. It’s duty done and a lot of joy.
“When you talk about Portugal, it is always a special feeling. Being captain of this generation is a source of pride. Winning a title is always the pinnacle in a national team,” Ronaldo said after the match while speaking to Sport TV.