BERLIN \u2014 No rest for the winners.<\/p>\n
Sandwiched between the Champions League final and Club World Cup, the Nations League final four provides another opportunity to win a trophy for players who might have more need of a break.<\/p>\n
Seven France players, four from Portugal, and one each from Spain and Germany were involved as Paris Saint-Germain defeated Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Germany defender Yann Aurel Bisseck was injured playing for Inter and will miss the Nations League semifinal against Portugal in Munich on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
PSG players Gon\u00e7alo Ramos, Jo\u00e3o Neves, Nuno Mendes and Vitinha will need to shake off any lingering effects from celebrations before they play for Portugal.<\/p>\n
France plays Spain in the other semifinal in Stuttgart on Thursday, when Spain\u2019s Fabi\u00e1n Ruiz is likely to start in midfield despite starring in midfield for PSG on Saturday.<\/p>\n
France players D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9, Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9, Lucas Hernandez and Warren Za\u00efre-Emery all helped PSG end its long wait to lift the Champions League trophy. France players Marcus Thuram and Benjamin Pavard were on the losing side for Inter Milan.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Portugal coach Roberto Martinez speaks with Joao Neves, left, during a Portugal soccer team training session in Oeiras, outside Lisbon, on the eve of the Nations League semifinal match with Germany, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Credit: AP\/Armando Franca<\/p>\n
While France coach Didier Deschamps will need to assess the impact of PSG\u2019s partying on his players, three of his preferred four-man backline are also injured. William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano and Jules Kound\u00e9 are all out. Real Madrid midfielder Eduardo Camavinga is also injured as a long season takes its toll.<\/p>\n
The winners of each semifinal will contest the final in Munich on Sunday. The losers won’t get a break yet \u2014 they’ll need to play in Stuttgart to decide third place.<\/p>\n
What is the Nations League?<\/p>\n
The new competition was formed in 2018 to replace what UEFA called \u201cmeaningless friendlies\u201d with competitive games pitting equally ranked teams against each other.<\/p>\n
For this, it set up a league structure with four divisions containing groups of national teams, then \u2013 from this edition \u2013 a new knockout round after the group phase among the top division\u2019s group winners and runners-up to determine which play in the finals.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Portugal’s Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias, right, pretend to fistfight on the pitch before a Portugal soccer team training session in Oeiras, outside Lisbon, on the eve of the Nations League semifinal match with Germany, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Credit: AP\/Armando Franca<\/p>\n
In the quarterfinals, Spain defeated the Netherlands on penalties, France also needed penalties against Croatia, Germany defeated Italy 5-4 on aggregate, and Portugal beat Denmark 5-3 on aggregate.<\/p>\n
It ensured all three previous winners of the competition \u2013 Portugal (2019), France (2021) and Spain (2023) \u2013 qualified for the final four along with host Germany.<\/p>\n
How important is the Nations League?<\/p>\n
Spain used success in 2023 as a springboard for winning the European Championship in 2024, and France reached the World Cup final in 2022 after winning the Nations League the year before.<\/p>\n
While fans might struggle to remember previous winners amid an increasingly packed schedule, coaches and players welcome the competitive edge it provides.<\/p>\n
For Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann, it\u2019s a chance to win his first title. Though not comparable to winning a European Championship or World Cup, it would restore some pride in German soccer after the national team\u2019s decline following its 2014 World Cup win.<\/p>\n
Key facts<\/p>\n
\u2014 France\u2019s game with Spain is a repeat of their Euro 2024 semifinal, when the team starring Lamine Yamal got the better of Kylian Mbapp\u00e9\u2019s France on its way to lifting the title.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Lyon attacking midfielder Rayan Cherki could make his debut for France.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Isco is back for Spain after a six-year-absence. The 33-year-old former Real Madrid star enjoyed a stellar season at Real Betis.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Germany captain Joshua Kimmich would make his 100th national team appearance if he plays against Portugal.<\/p>\n
\u2014 With Jamal Musiala out injured, Bayer Leverkusen star Florian Wirtz will be under more pressure to create openings for Germany.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Porto star Rodrigo Mora was called up by Portugal for the first time. The 18-year-old attacking midfielder has been linked with a host of clubs including Manchester United, Barcelona and PSG.<\/p>\n
\u2014 The evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo, now 40, will lead Portugal again. He might not get a break after this tournament either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN \u2014 No rest for the winners. Sandwiched between the Champions League final and Club World Cup, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154856,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,10031,34242],"class_list":{"0":"post-154855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-soccer","12":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114619589901307915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}