Croatia 0-0 Spain (Pens: 4-5): Spaniards Win Nations League For First Title In 11 Years4 min read
Croatia missed out on their first international trophy after losing on penalties to Spain in the Nations League final.
Dani Carvajal calmly chipped home the winning effort to seal a 5-4 victory on spot-kicks after Unai Simon had saved from Bruno Petkovic.
The contest in Rotterdam had finished goalless after extra time.
It is Spain’s first international trophy for 11 years, since their victory at Euro 2012.
“We’re so happy, it was a really tough game and this is so difficult to do,” said Spain midfielder Rodri, who was named man of the match and for whom this trophy follows winning the Treble with Manchester City and scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final.
Rodri thinks this could be the start of another succession of Spanish titles, with the squad featuring several exciting young players including Gavi, Ansu Fati and Yeremy Pino.
“This generation promises a lot. We were very strong mentally. There are things to improve, but winning is always good – we have to celebrate,” he said.
Victory also means Spain become the second nation to win the World Cup, European Championship and Nations League following France, who beat the Spanish in the 2021 Nations League final.
They could have won the shootout earlier after Simon saved from Lovro Majer, only for Aymeric Laporte to slam Spain’s fifth penalty off the crossbar.
It did not matter, however, as Simon kept out the subsequent effort from Petkovic, allowing Carvajal to be the hero.
“For us it was a unique opportunity, we went out early in another tournament and today we had to take advantage,” Real Madrid defender Carvajal told Spanish broadcaster TVE.
He was referring to the 2022 World Cup, where Spain suffered a shock last-16 exit at the hands of Morocco via a shootout where they failed to score a single penalty.
Carvajal added: “We had confidence with the penalties and it went well, I knew how I was going to shoot it, and I knew I was going to be sixth. I wanted to take it ‘Panenka’ style and it went well.”
Heartbreak for Modric
Having reached the final of the 2018 World Cup and finished third at Qatar 2022, Croatia were desperate to go one step further and clinch a maiden title.
They were certainly well backed in Rotterdam, with a sea of Croatian flags and red and white shirts in the De Kuip stands.
It was also a chance for Luka Modric, earning his 166th international cap, to top off a stellar career with a first piece of international silverware.
The pressure of this may have contributed to a slow start by Croatia, with Gavi almost capitalising as Spain pressed high only to drag a shot wide from a good position.
Croatia soon hit their stride, however, their direct style causing issues for Spain with their high defensive line and only a fine tackle by Laporte denied Andrej Kramaric when a ball over the top seemed to have set the striker free.
As the game wore on towards extra time, Croatia continued to apply more pressure. However it was Spain who had the better chances with Marco Asensio coming close with a header, Fabian Ruiz chipping narrowly over and Ansu Fati denied on the line by Ivan Perisic in the second half.
Extra time brought no winner so penalties decided the outcome, bringing glory to Spain and despair to Croatia.
It remains to be seen whether this was Modric’s final chance to deliver a trophy for his country, with the 37-year-old former Ballon d’Or winner set to make an announcement on his international future this week.
Defeat may yet see him stay on to play in next summer’s European Championship in Germany.
