(Football news) A late winner by Alvaro Morata was enough for Spain to defeat Portugal and qualify for the Nations League finals. The former Chelsea striker converted from close range after receiving the ball from Nico Williams. Portugal were wasteful in front of goal with Diogo Jota and Cristiano Ronaldo missing vital opportunities despite being the better side for the majority of the match. Spain will now join Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands for June's finals.
Portugal, who had won the inaugural competition in 2018-19 simply couldn’t convert their opportunities. Bruno Fernandes provided an excellent pass to Jota whose shot at goal was denied by Spanish keeper Unai Simon with one hand. The hosts continued to knock with Fernandes hitting the side netting while Cristiano Ronaldo had a shot blocked by Simon early in the second half. Spain had a few opportunities of their own with substitute Williams from Atletico Bilbao having two shots saved by Diogo Costa.
With only two minutes remaining in the fixture, Costa was beaten when Williams' header went past him and Morata blasted the ball into the goal’s roof to ensure Spain took the lead. La Roja were runners-up in 2021 and will now hope to go one step ahead and win. Speaking after the match, Morata said “It was a difficult game but I stayed with the attitude of the team. We have made a great effort. If we were knocked out it had to be by leaving everything on the field and that’s how it was one more time for us. Every time that Spain has to show up in big games we do it. That’s how we do it and tonight we did it again.”
Portugal manager Fernando Santos said “We were really well organised in the first half. They had possession but didn’t create anything with that. However, we went down and lost the intensity after the 60th minute. They grew mainly because we lost the ability to have the ball. Players could not turn on their game. Spain began to push and came from really having no chances to end up scoring a goal. In the final minutes, they changed the script, that’s evident.”
Also read: Italy qualify for Nations League finals after beating Hungary
