The UEFA Nations League final between Spain and Croatia was extremely tense, dramatic and exciting. In terms of power balance, Spain was considered slightly superior in terms of class and players on the field.
Due to the nature of the final, both Croatia's coach Dalic and Spain's Luis de la Fuente put out their best players in the starting lineup.
Back to the match, both sides started cautiously. Spain had the first dangerous opportunity in the 12th minute when Gavi put pressure on Brozovic, took the ball away from him and led for a few steps before firing a shot from the edge of the 16m50 line. The ball went uncomfortably low to the ground and just missed the post.
It was not until the 32nd minute that Croatia finally responded when Ivan Perisic jumped higher than Jesus Navas to head in Luka Modric's free kick, but goalkeeper Unai Simon successfully blocked it. Overall, the quality of the first half was not high as both sides played cautiously and confidently.
In the second half, the situation was not much better. In the 51st minute, Perisic crossed the ball into the 5m50 area from the left wing and Unai Simon "missed" the trick but Juranovic volleyed it wide. A few minutes later, it was Spain's turn to have a chance from a wing attack when Jordi Alba sent a cross into the middle of the penalty area for Asensio to jump and head the ball, sending it flying over the crossbar.
In the 65th minute, Rodri had a chance to shoot from outside the 16m50 line but this time the ball missed the target. In the 78th minute, Spain continued to have opportunities and Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic was forced to leave his goal to stop Ansu Fati's attempt early. The ball bounced to Fabian Ruiz and the midfielder immediately took a shot at the empty goal but the ball only flew over the crossbar.
In the 85th minute, Spain continued to attack, the ball came to Ansu Fati's feet in the penalty area, he controlled the ball after Alba's cross and then shot low, if Perisic had not been in front of the goal line, the goal would have been scored. With no winner in the two regular halves, the two teams entered 30 minutes of extra time.
In the 2 extra halves due to physical decline, both teams played slowly and steadily, the 2023 Nations League final had to be decided by a tense penalty shootout. Spain defeated Croatia 5-4 in the penalty shootout to become the new Nations League champion. Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic were the ones who missed Croatia's penalties, while for Spain only Aymeric Laporte missed. The person who took the decisive penalty, bringing the championship to Spain was Carvajal.
Thus, the Spanish team has become the next champion of the UEFA Nations League after Portugal and France, before that the Italian team defeated the Dutch team to win 3rd place./.
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