{"id":168879,"date":"2025-06-09T00:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/168879\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T00:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T00:12:15","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-fails-to-hold-back-tears-as-portugal-become-first-country-to-win-nations-league-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/168879\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo fails to hold back tears as Portugal become first country to win Nations League twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo failed to contain his emotions after helping Portugal to their third international tournament triumph.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portugal<\/a> beat Spain in a dramatic Nations League final on penalties with the scores level at 2-2 after 120 minutes at the Allianz Arena on Sunday night.<\/p>\n

\"Portugal<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Portugal are two-time Nations League winnersCredit: Getty\"Skipper<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Skipper Ronaldo dropped to his knees after Portugal emerged victorious on penalties\"He<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

He was reduced to tears after winning his third international tournament<\/p>\n

Spain twice led in normal time, with Martin Zubimendi breaking the deadlock in the 21st minute.<\/p>\n

Mikel Oyarzabal then put the Euro 2024 winners ahead on the stroke of half-time after Nuno Mendes equalised in the 26th minute.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo, who swapped shirts<\/a> with Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams at half-time, then came to Portugal’s rescue once again.<\/p>\n

Bringing up his 138th international goal in the 61st minute, Ronaldo<\/a> volleyed Portugal level with a first-time effort into the far corner.<\/p>\n

But he couldn’t see out the match as he was replaced by Goncalo Ramos after picking up an injury in the closing stages of the second half.<\/p>\n

Both teams pressed for a winner in extra-time, but neither side could make the breakthrough, leading to the second consecutive Nations League final to be decided by a shootout.<\/p>\n

Spain emerged victorious on penalties against Croatia in 2023, but their luck was out this time around.<\/p>\n

Portugal ended up as 5-3 victors, with ex-Chelsea striker Alvaro Morata being the only player to miss from 12 yards, with his shot saved by Diogo Costa.<\/p>\n

And up stepped former Wolves skipper Ruben Neves, who rifled his attempt into the bottom left corner to spark jubilant scenes.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo – watching on from the sidelines – dropped to his knees where he was instantly reduced to tears.<\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Ronaldo scored Portugal’s equaliser, which sent the game into extra-time\"Neves<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Neves scored the winning goal in the penalty shootoutCredit: Getty\"Portugal<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Portugal are the first country to win the Nations League on two occasionsCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old is now the only Portugal player to have won the Nations League twice, as well as the European Championship, which he lifted in 2016.<\/p>\n

Portugal won the inaugural edition of the Nations League in 2019 after beating Netherlands in the final.<\/p>\n

While they are the first country to win the tournament on two occasions, Spain are the first to be losing finalists twice.<\/p>\n

Spain were defeated by France in 2019 following Kylian Mbappe’s controversial winner<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But while Spanish hearts were broken, one Spaniard was left grinning like a Cheshire cat after finally winning an international trophy.<\/p>\n

Portugal boss Martinez, who was born and raised in Catalonia, has been in international management since 2016.<\/p>\n

\"Ronaldo<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Ronaldo and Martinez failed to contain their delight after Portugal won the Nations LeagueCredit: AFP\"But<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

But it was despair for Morata after he saw his spot-kick saved by CostaCredit: Getty\"Spain<\/a><\/p>\n

9<\/p>\n

Spain are the first country to lose in two Nations League finalsCredit: AFP<\/p>\n

Martinez linked up with the Red Devils after being sacked by Everton, where he guided Belgium to third-place in the 2018 World Cup.<\/p>\n

He then endured heartbreak with Portugal at Euro 2024 where they crashed out on penalties to France in the quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

But he has finally got his hands on his first trophy since guiding Wigan to FA Cup glory in 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo failed to contain his emotions after helping Portugal to their third international tournament triumph. Portugal beat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4116,70566,5508,3046,70313,70568,70567,104,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-168879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","9":"tag-nations-league-final","10":"tag-nations-league","11":"tag-portugal","12":"tag-portugal-vs-spain","13":"tag-roberto-martinez","14":"tag-ronaldo-goal","15":"tag-spain","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168879","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=168879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}