Portugal won the Nations League for second time in its history

Portugal won the Nations League for the second time in its history

Manos Staramopoulos • 9 de junio de 2025

The Portuguese national team, in a wonderful and shocking game, which ended in a 2-2 draw in regular time and extra time against Spain.

Portugal won in Múnich at Spain 5-3 in penalty shootouts

The Portuguese national team, in a wonderful and shocking game, which ended in a 2-2 draw in regular time and extra time. It was then taken to the penalty shootout, where the infallible Russian roulette Portugal prevailed 5-3 over the European champion, Spain. And so the Iberian Peninsula country became the first to count two victories in the newly established UEFA competition, which premiered in 2019. In this short period of the institution's existence, only two other national teams (1 France, 1 Spain) have managed to make the trophy their own, for which only four finals have been held.

Portugal win the Nations League! 🇵🇹🏆 #NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/7PlHVxcEzd
— UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) June 8, 2025

The Spanish national team, which had been undefeated for 27 months, was on an incredible 26-match winning streak (19-5-0), which was to be broken by Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, led by Spaniard Roberto Martinez.

In a final not for the faint of heart, Roberto Martinez's team managed to... break the unbeaten "storm of thunder" and win the precious trophy in Munich at the beautiful Allianz Arena, which had also hosted the Champions League final on May 31.

Martinez lined up Portugal in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Diogo Costa was in the lead, Joao Neves was at right back and Nuno Mendes was on the left. Ruben Dias and Inácio were at centre-back. Vitinha and Bernardo . Silva in midfield, while Neto and Francisco . Conceicao on the wings with Bruno Fernandes moving behind Ronaldo.

On his part, Luis De la Fuente had: Simon in goal, Le Normand and Hujisen in stoppers, with Mingueza and Cucurrella at full-back. Zubimendi was the only midfielder, with Pedri and Fabian Ruiz flanking him. On the wings of attack Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, while Oyarzabal was at the top.

The game was decided in a heartbreaking penalty shootout (5-3), with the Portuguese scoring all five of their shots and the Spaniards missing the fourth, with Morata fatally, who was defeated by the excellent Diogo Costa.

The Spanish national team remained true to its philosophy from the start, while Portugal was tighter, wanting to keep the game at a low tempo. They also knew that it was not in their best interest to have the match at a high intensity. Yamal was unable to present what he wanted as he was perfectly guarded by Nuno Mendes. On the contrary, Nico Williams was more active... Vitinha's presence in the midfield was once again excellent.

A footballer who is difficult to stop. He leads the Portuguese national team wonderfully. Zubimendi opened the scoring for Spain in the 21st minute. Nuno Mendes equalized in the 26th minute. However, Oyarzabal gave the "fury of the rocks" the lead again in the 45th minute. However, Cristiano Ronaldo had not said his last word and in the 61st minute he brought the game back to a draw. Equating to 2-2.