Spain have become the new champions of the Nations League after defeating Croatia in the final at De Kuip (Rotterdam, Netherlands).
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| Spain became the new Nations League champions. (Source: Getty Images) |
Spain beat Croatia 5-4 on penalties after the two teams drew 0-0 in 120 minutes of exciting and tense play.
Goalkeeper Unai Simon made excellent saves from Lovro Majer and Bruno Petkovic of Croatia to contribute greatly to the victory of the "Bulls".
The only Spanish player to miss in six penalty shootouts was centre-back Aymeric Laporte.
This victory helped Spain win the Nations League championship for the first time in history after two consecutive seasons reaching the final.
Notably, this is also the first title that La Roja has achieved after a long 11-year wait, since winning EURO 2012.
On the other side of the front line, the title still "eludes" Luka Modric and the golden generation of Croatian football. They have twice participated in the final of the 2018 World Cup and the 2023 Nations League but have yet to cross the threshold of heaven.
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| Italy won 3rd place in Nations League 2022/23. (Source: Getty Images) |
Previously, Italy had a 3-2 victory over the host team Netherlands to win 3rd place overall in this season's Nations League.
Federico Dimarco and Davide Frattesi took turns shining to put Italy 2-0 up in the first half.
In the second half, Steven Bergwijn brought hope to the Netherlands with a goal to reduce the score to 1-2 in the 68th minute, but it was quickly extinguished by Italy with a goal by Federico Chiesa exactly 4 minutes later.
In the remaining minutes, the "Orange Storm" played with great determination but could only score one more goal against the Azzurri in the 89th minute by Georginio Wijnaldum, thereby accepting a 2-3 defeat.
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