We look ahead to
Sunday’s UEFA Nations League Final at the Allianz Arena with our
Portugal vs Spain prediction and preview. Which country will become
the first to win the Nations League twice?
Portugal
vs Spain Stats: The Key Insights
- The Opta supercomputer makes Spain favourites to win the
Nations League, with La Roja beating Portugal inside 90 minutes in
50.1% of simulations. - Spain are unbeaten in their last 13 Nations League games (W9
D4). - Portugal are looking to beat Spain for the first time since a
4-0 friendly win in 2010.
It promises to be a fascinating final of the UEFA Nations League
at the Allianz Arena on Sunday as Portugal take on Spain.
Portugal are in the final of the competition for the first time
since they won the inaugural edition in 2019, when they beat the
Netherlands 1-0 to lift the Nations League trophy in the Estádio do
Dragão in Porto.
Spain have featured in every Nations League final since, with
this being their third, more than any other country. La Roja were
beaten 2-1 by France in Milan in 2021, before winning on penalties
against Croatia in 2023 in Rotterdam, so whoever wins on Sunday
will become the first team to win the Nations League twice.
Roberto Martínez’s men reached the final with an impressive
comeback win against Germany. Florian
Wirtz –
rumoured to be a target for Liverpool this summer – headed the
hosts in front in their semi-final on Wednesday, before
Francisco Conceição curled in a brilliant equaliser and
Cristiano Ronaldo tapped in Nuno
Mendes’ cross to give Portugal a 2-1 victory. It handed them
their first win over Germany since Euro 2000.
Spain’s semi-final was even more dramatic, with Luis de la
Fuente’s men racing out to a 4-0 lead over France in Stuttgart,
with Nico
Williams, Mikel
Merino, Lamine
Yamal (penalty) and Pedri
all finding the net in a dominant display.
Kylian
Mbappé pulled one back from the penalty spot, but Yamal added
another shortly after to restore the four-goal cushion.
Rayan
Cherki’s introduction from the bench helped make things more
interesting as he scored and provided an assist for
Randal Kolo Muani either side of a Dani
Vivian own goal to make it 5-4, but Les Bleus were unable to
find an equaliser.
What To Read Next:
Portugal came through a group stage of Croatia, Scotland and
Poland to reach the quarter-finals, where they had to come from
behind having lost the first leg 1-0 to Denmark, winning the second
leg 5-2 after extra-time (5-3 on aggregate).
Spain played Serbia, Switzerland and Denmark in the group stage,
before edging past the Netherlands in the quarter-finals. A 2-2
draw in the first leg was followed by a 3-3 stalemate back in
Spain, but De La Fuente’s side went through 5-4 on penalties.
Spain have an outstanding recent record in the Nations League,
having not lost any of their last 13 games in the competition (W9
D4).
Sunday will likely see Ronaldo and Yamal face off, which would
be quite a sight for football fans everywhere. The Portuguese
legend, who has won the Ballon d’Or five times, will come up
against a player 22 years and 168 days his junior whom many expect
to win the award multiple times in the future.
On that topic, there is likely to be a 2+ year difference in the
average age of both teams, with Portugal’s starting XI against
Germany having an average age of 27 years and 164 days, while
Spain’s starters against France were just 25 years and 34 days old
on average. Will that experience tell, or will youthful exuberance
carry the holders through?
Portugal
vs Spain Head-to-Head
The last time these two faced one another was in the previous
edition of the Nations League, in a 1-1 draw in Seville, with
Ricardo Horta’s goal for Portugal cancelling out Álvaro
Morata’s opener. That was followed by a 1-0 win for Spain in
the return game three months later, with Morata scoring an
88th-minute winner in Braga.
In fact, prior to that 1-0 win for Spain, the previous five
games in all competitions between the two nations had been drawn,
with the last time Portugal beat Spain coming in a friendly in
November 2010, which they won 4-0.
Portugal
vs Spain Prediction
The Opta supercomputer sees Spain as favourites for the final,
as they win just over half of its 10,000 simulations inside 90
minutes (50.1%). Portugal do so in just over a quarter (26.0%),
with the remaining 23.9% seeing the game go to extra-time and
potentially penalties.
Portugal vs Spain Squads
Portugal: Diogo Costa, José Sá, Rui Silva,
Nélson Semedo, Rúben Dias, António Silva, Diogo Dalot, Renato
Veiga, Gonçalo Inácio, Nuno Mendes, João Palhinha, Bruno Fernandes,
Bernardo Silva, João Neves, Rúben Neves, Pote, Vitinha, Rodrigo
Mora, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonçalo Ramos, João Félix, Francisco
Trincão, Rafael Leão, Pedro Neto, Diogo Jota, Francisco
Conceição.
Coach: Roberto Martínez
Spain: David Raya, Álex Remiro, Unai Simón,
Pedro Porro, Robin Le Normand, Pau Cubarsi, Dani Vivian, Dean
Huijsen, Oscar Mingueza, Álex Grimaldo, Marc Cucurella, Mikel
Merino, Fabián Ruiz, Gavi, Nico Williams, Álex Baena, Martín
Zubimendi, Pedri, Mikel Oyarzabal, Isco, Álvaro Morata, Dani Olmo,
Yeremy Pino, Lamine Yamal, Fermín López, Samu Aghehowa.
Coach: Luis de la Fuente
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