Spain takes UEFA Nations League trophy, edges Croatia in penalty shootout

MANILA, Philippines – A penalty shootout is precarious living.

Croatia, which has made its living by this method, defeated Denmark (3-2) and Russia (4-3) in the knockout stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and Japan (3-1) and Brazil (4-2) in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

This time around, Spain, the team that denied the Croats a spot in the quarterfinals of the Euro 2020 with a 5-3 win after extra time, saw off Luka Modric and company, 5-4, in a penalty shootout to take the UEFA Nations League trophy Monday morning at De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

After a 120 minutes play of scoreless and tight and defensive football, the game went into a shootout. Both sides’ first three penalty takers found the back of the net. Then Croatia’s Lovro Majer missed his spot kick while his Spanish counterpart Marco Asensio made good on his.
 
After Ivan Perisic brought Croatia level, Aymeric Laporte had a chance to win it all but missed. Shockingly, Croatia’s Bruno Petkovic’s shot was saved by Spanish goalkeeper Unai Simon, after which his teammate Dani Carvajal scored via Panenka to give their country its first major international trophy since Euro 2012.

Carvajal is Luka Modric’s teammate at Real Madrid.

The 37-year old Modric, who earned his 166th cap for Croatia, is expected to make a statement on his international football career in a few weeks. Although it is certainly possible he will give it one last go for the European Champions in the summer of 2024 in Germany.

This was sweet redemption for Spain, which lost the 2021 National League Finals to France. 

Spain’s Rodri, judged Man of the Match, believes that this could set off another wave of titles as they have top up and coming players such as Yeremy Pino, Ansu Fati and Gavi to name but a few.

The UEFA Nations League tournament was televised live in the Philippines on the Premier Sports channel as well as on the TapGo TV streaming application.