New era under way for Spanish football following Nations League glory
A tense penalty shootout was needed for Luis de la Fuente to claim his first trophy as national team boss
Spain became the third ever winners of the UEFA Nations League after a tense clash with Croatia was settled by a penalty shootout in Rotterdam on Sunday night.
Real Madrid's Dani Carvajal scored the decisive spot-kick in Panenka style after Athletic's Unai Simón saved from Bruno Petković in sudden death.
It was a dramatic ending to a game that never really got going until the latter stages of the second half when Spain coach Luis de la Fuente turned to his bench for some fresh impetus.
Spain then dominated possession and substitute winger Ansu Fati came closest to winning the game in normal time, but his close-range effort was cleared off the line by Ivan Perišić with less than ten minutes to go.
In extra time, another substitute, Dani Olmo, wasted two good chances, snatching at the ball when it fell to him on the edge of the box.
Unai Simón, the hero
Almost inevitably, the game had to be settled by penalties. When Unai Simón saved low to his left from Lovro Majer, Aymeric Laporte was given the chance to seal the win with Spain's fifth kick. However, the Manchester City man struck the crossbar, sending it to sudden death.
There, Unai Simón once again showed his penalty expertise, setting up Carvajal to score the winner.
First trophy since 2012
The Nations League is Spain's first trophy in 11 years having last lifted silverware in Kyiv at the UEFA European Championship in 2012.
It's also the first of the Luis de la Fuente era, despite being only his fourth game in charge, finishing a campaign started under previous coach Luis Enrique.
After a mixed showing in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, Spain showed greater class during this international break, first seeing off European champions Italy in the semi-finals on Thursday (2-1) and now beating the team that came third in Qatar last winter.
