Alvaro Morata was on target as Spain beat Portugal 1-0 at home to join Italy, Netherlands and Croatia in the UEFA Nations League finals.
Jose Enrique’s men were dominant in both halves as they saw off hosts Portugal in Braga in the tournament taking the lead inside 88 minutes after Dani Carvajal was able to send a beautiful cross from right outside the box to find Nico Williams at the left who neatly linked and headed the ball past Portugal goalkeeper Diego Costa and into the path of unmarked Morata converting it into an empty net, sending wild celebration to the Spanish bench. Williams who made his debut last Saturday became Spanish youngest assist provider at the age of 20 & 77days as per OptaJoe stats.
This became the first ever away win for Spain against Portugal since 1934 in a competitive match which saw them top group A with 11 points after 6 matches with the host, Portugal, falling short to second place with 10 points. “It was a difficult game but I stay with the attitude of the team. We have made a great effort”, Morata said in his post match interview, “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 have to show up in big games we do it. That’s how we do it and tonight we did it again” he added.
Álvaro Morata 🎙
— The Red Fury ™ (@SpainSystem) September 27, 2022
“I can’t be convincing to everyone. Whoever likes football values my work on the pitch.” pic.twitter.com/4dmMpPqVhE
How the match between spain and portugal unfolded
Portugal looked dangerous on counter attack when Bruno Fernandez tried finding top right corner with a fierce short outside the eighteen yard box with the ball ending to side net inside 37th minute. The Manchester United midfielder previously had found Diego Jota inside the box with a long pass but the Liverpool’s forward half volleyball was parred away by Unai Simon for a corner. Spain had been left frustrated in their previous match against Switzerland following1-2 home defeat, this saw Enrique make seven changes to face Portugal with Jordi Alba, Gavi, Pedri, Sergio Busquets, Marco Asensio, Ceasar Azpilcueta and Eric Garcia all left on the bench.
🇪🇸 Álvaro Morata sends Spain through to the finals with an 88th minute winner!#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/AdgPkwBSUf
— UEFA Nations League (@EURO2024) September 27, 2022
Spain didn’t register any shot on target up to the 70th minute when Atletico Madrid’s striker, Alvaro Morata sent a long range stinger short towards far right corner seeing his efforts saved beautifully by Costa. This followed a tactical substitution by the coach in 60th minute seeing Barcelona’s Gavi, Pedri and Yeremi Pino come in to replace Koke, Carlos Soler and Pablo Sarabia respectively.
Portugal’s target man and captain Christiano Ronaldo’s efforts went blank as much as he tried to link with fellow team mates. The Manchester United striker failed to convert a one time touch inside the box as he lucklustered in better part of the game throwing an open chance after left back Nuno found him with a cross which saw Dani Carvajal clear it off for a corner.
“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 minutes, 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”, Portugal’s gaffer Fernandez Santos lamented in his post match conference. However he believed they are still favourite in the world cup which is few weeks away.
Portugal are in group H with Ghana, Uruguay and South Korea while Spain will play Japan, Costa Rica and Germany in group E
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