By Samuel A. June 21, 2023
The Spanish national team beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties to win their first ever Nations League trophy, and their first trophy win since Euro 2012. Dani Carvajal, who was substituted seven minutes into the extra time, converted the deciding penalty to win the trophy with an ice cold ‘panenka’. The game had ended goalless after extra time, giving head coach Luis de la Fuente, a trophy winning start to his tenure.
Croatia, 2018 World Cup finalists and third placed finishers in Qatar 2022, were hoping to lift their first trophy, but sadly, they couldn’t find a way to score a goal across the 120 minutes, despite the best efforts of Luka Modric. Substitutes – Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic then had their penalties saved by Unai Simon in the shootout. It was a heartbreaking outcome for Croatia, who have kept overachieving since their surprising 2018 run, reaching the final with a squad that had been written off, as they once again fell painfully short of a historic triumph.
Spain started in a promising energy, despite the whistles of the Croatia fans who dominated the arena, with Alvaro Morata almost capitalizing on a howler by Dominik Livakovic and Gavi shooting just past the post. However, Croatia grew into the game as soon they were exploiting Spain’s high defensive line, with Andrej Kramaric bursting through on goal, only to have his shot blocked by Manchester City’s Aymeric Laporte, following an outstanding recovery run. Many of their best moments came through their talisman, Luka Modric, who twice crossed for Ivan Perisic to head at goal, forcing saves from Simon on both occasions. Croatia’s direct approach was causing problems for Spain, and on the other end, De la Fuente’s side found it more difficult to break through the compact Croatian defensive structure. Jordi Alba looked their most likely route to goal, with the left back producing fine crosses for Morata and Marco Asensio either side of halftime, but both players headed over. Ivan Perisic, who was outstanding on the night also created half chances for Josip Juranovic and Mario Pasalic, but the tempo slowed as the second half wore on and soon Spain were looking the more likely victors.
Rodri sent a vicious long range effort narrowly wide, but the best opportunity fell to Ansu Fati, whose low effort, from fellow substitute Mikel Merino’s cut back, was hacked off the line by Perisic.
Croatia, fatiguing after their extra time win over the Netherlands only four days earlier, still threatened from time to time, but kept on running out of energy over the course of extratime. Nacho made a brilliant last ditch tackle to deny Majer and Marcelo Brozovic forced a save from Simon, but aside that, Spain were on the front foot and created more opportunities to win it. They did not take their chances well however, with Dani Olmo firing wide when he should have scored, but held their nerve in the shootout, even after Laporte missed an earlier chance to win it when he slammed his effort against the bar. In the end, it was left to Caravajal, who capitalised on Petkovic’s miss in style to spark Spanish celebrations.
“We’re so happy, it was a really tough game and this is so difficult to do,” said Spain wonder man Rodri, who was named man of the match, making it his third consecutive man of the match award in a row, since the Champions League final in Istanbul. Rodri thinks this could be the start of another succession of Spanish titles, with the squad featuring several exciting young players including Gavi, Ansu Fati, Pedri, Yeremy Pino amongst others. “This generation promises a lot. We were very strong mentally. There are things to improve, but winning is always good. We have to celebrate,” he said. Victory also means Spain become the second nation to win the World Cup, European Championship and Nations League following France, who beat the Spanish in the 2021 Nations League final.
