Spain wins Nations League at De Kuip, again no prize Croatia and Modric

Spain’s footballers have won the Nations League at the Kuip stadium. They defeated Croatia when taking penalty kicks (6-5). After regular playing time and extension, the score was still 0-0.

This is the first time since 2012 that Spain has taken a prize. That’s when Spain won the European Championship. Croatia and 37-year-old Luka Modric still remain deprived of their first international prize. At the last two World Cups, Croatia finished second and third.

Although the Nations League has less prestige than a European Championship or a World Cup, the final tournament was alive and well in the Netherlands. About 30,000 Croatians attended the match in Rotterdam.

Spain started the match better and became dangerous a few times, without creating any really big chances. A shot by Gavi that disappeared wide of the enemy goal was the most noteworthy.

Gradually in the first half, Croatia got better into the game. Andrej Kramaric and Mario Pasalic were both able to emerge once in promising position in front of Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon’s goal. Other than that, the Croatians also did not rain the chances on each other.

Nevertheless, because of the tension and intensity, the match was entertaining. This was also the case in the second half. Both teams remained evenly matched and both created danger.

The biggest chance in the second half was for the threatening Spanish substitute Ansu Fati. He had the ball up for grabs from close range, but shot the implement at the feet of Ivan Perisic. Croatia was also able to break out a few times, but did not really put Simon to work.

As a result, the game had to be extended. The picture did not change. Both teams remained evenly matched and the biggest chance was again for Spain. Dani Olmo, who played for Dinamo Zagreb for many years, shot the ball wide via a Croatian leg.

The ball did not go in for the first time until the penalty shootout series. In the end, fourteen penalties were taken. Of those, Spain (Aymeric Laporte) missed one and Croatia missed two (Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic).

And so the third edition of the Nations League was for Spain. In 2019 Portugal won the final from the Netherlands and in 2021 Spain lost the final to France.