Álvaro Morata missed in the shootout for Spain
Only weeks after his move to Real Madrid was announced, Dean Huijsen was close to getting his hands on his first silverware in senior football with Spain, only to miss out to Portugal on penalties in the final of the UEFA Nations League.
Making his only fourth appearance for his adopted country at senior level, he played the full 120 minutes as Spain lost to Portugal, ending 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw. It was former Madridista Álvaro Morata who missed the only failed penalty in the shoot-out, after Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Oyarzabal, Nuno Mendes and Cristiano Ronaldo were on the scoresheet in normal time.
Up against none other than Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo, at least until he was forced off with minutes of the standard 90 left to go, Huijsen had his work cut out defensively as Spain’s two full-backs, Óscar Mingueza on the right and Marc Cucurella on the left, were run ragged.
He recorded an impressive 10 clearances, as well as a 100% success rate with his tackling.
Once again, it was on the ball where he led. For the second match in a row, he completed more passes than any other player with 101 completed passes from 112 attempts. Of those, nine were into Portugal’s final third, with his distribution and long balls out from the back proving to be a crucial outlet for Spain.
Mbappé netted his 50th goal for France in the play-off
Earlier on Sunday, France took on Germany and secured third place in the UEFA Nations League by beating the host nation 2-0 in Stuttgart.
Kylian Mbappé opened the scoring just before the break to give France the lead with a trademark finish as he cut in from the left flank to fire into the bottom corner past Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-André Ter Stegen. It was his 50th goal for France on his 90th appearance for his country.
Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images
The forward started on the left flank, with Inter’s Marcus Thuram starting centrally. He registered six shots, three of which were on target, and then set up Michael Olise to guarantee the win on 84 minutes as he raced clear and unselfishly passed to the Bayern Munich winger.
Aurélien Tchouameni also returned to the line-up and started in midfield, playing 68 minutes and claiming the assist for Mbappé’s goal.
