Spectacular Carvajal Seals Triumph As La Roja Reign Supreme In Nations League Showdown

Spain emerged victorious in the Nations League by defeating Croatia 5-4 in a thrilling penalty shootout. This triumph marked Spain's first major trophy since their Euro 2012 victory. The match itself concluded without any goals during regular time and extra time, leading to the dramatic shootout.

Another missed opportunity for Croatia

Dani Carvajal, who came on as a substitute, sealed the win for Spain by confidently executing a Panenka-style penalty. This successful conversion granted head coach Luis de la Fuente, who took charge in December following Luis Enrique's departure, a grand start to his tenure with a trophy in hand.

Croatia, known for their impressive World Cup performance in 2018 and their third-place finish in the recent Qatar tournament, entered the final with high hopes of securing their first-ever trophy. Despite the relentless efforts of their star player Luka Modric, Croatia failed to find the back of the net throughout the 120 minutes of play. In the penalty shootout, Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic, both substitutes, saw their spot-kicks saved by the outstanding Unai Simon.

For Croatia, a team known for consistently exceeding expectations, this heartbreaking outcome was another missed opportunity to achieve a historic triumph. Only four days prior, they had secured a hard-fought victory against the Netherlands in the semifinals, making their defeat in the final even more disheartening.

How Spain triumphed in epic final

Despite facing the overwhelming support of the Croatian fans, Spain began the match with promise. Alvaro Morata came close to capitalizing on a rebound from Dominik Livakovic, while Gavi's shot narrowly missed the target.

However, Croatia gradually grew into the game and started exploiting Spain's high defensive line. Andrej Kramaric broke through on goal, only to be denied by Aymeric Laporte's impressive recovery run and block.

As expected, Luka Modric played a vital role for Croatia, delivering two crosses for the attacking Ivan Perisic, who forced saves from Unai Simon with his headed attempts.

Croatia's direct approach caused difficulties for Spain, making it challenging for Luis de la Fuente's team to break down their compact and well-organized opponents. Spain's left-back, Jordi Alba, provided promising opportunities with excellent crosses for Morata and Marco Asensio, but both players missed the target with their headers.

Perisic managed to create half-chances for Josip Juranovic and Mario Pasalic, but the game's tempo slowed down as the second half progressed, and Spain started looking more likely to emerge as the winners.

Rodri came close to scoring with a powerful long-range strike that narrowly missed the target. However, the best chance fell to substitute Ansu Fati, whose low shot from Mikel Merino's pass was cleared off the line by Perisic.

Fatigue started to affect Croatia, who had played extra time against the Netherlands just four days earlier. While they sporadically threatened, they gradually retreated further and further back during extra time.

Nacho made a crucial last-ditch tackle to deny Majer, and Marcelo Brozovic forced a save from Simon, but overall, Spain maintained their attacking momentum and created more opportunities to secure victory.

Unfortunately, Spain failed to convert their chances, with Dani Olmo missing the target when he had a clear opportunity to score. Nevertheless, Spain remained composed during the penalty shootout, even after Laporte struck the bar with an earlier attempt.

Ultimately, it was Carvajal who sealed the victory for Spain, taking advantage of Petkovic's miss with a stylish penalty kick. This moment sparked jubilant celebrations among the Spanish team and supporters.

Published on: Monday, June 19, 2023, 08:36 AM IST