Football – League of Nations: Thanks to Morata, Spain snatches its qualification for the Final Four (1-0)

It was a game at stake for a place in the last four of the League of Nations, and it was felt in practice. At the end of a tense and close match, Spain won by the smallest of the gaps on the lands of Portugal (1-0). Transparent for a long time in the game, Alvaro Morata ended up finding the fault at the end of the match in the heart of the Lusitanian wall. Thanks to this success acquired in Braga, La Roja qualified for the semi-finals of the Nations League at the expense of their evening opponent, leader before this last day of group B. Luis Enrique’s men thus joined the Netherlands , Croatia and Italy.

Portugal have wasted too much

In a favorable position before kicking off this match at the municipal stadium in Braga, Portugal had the cards in hand to get the fourth qualifying ticket for the Final Four of the competition. At home, the band of Fernando Santos only needed a draw against their Spanish neighbor to secure their place in the last four. But the winner of the 2018-2019 edition of the League of Nations failed in his mission. The reason ? An inability to open the scoring to take cover from an opposing goal. However, Rubén Neves (23rd) and Diogo Jota (33rd) had put Unai Simon on the parade, and Bruno Fernandes suggested an opener with a shot in the side netting (38th).

At the break, the goalless draw forced the Portuguese to doubt their ability to qualify. Despite a good start to the second period, the Seleçao das Quinas stumbled on an imperial Unai Simon twice in front of Cristiano Ronaldo (47th, 90th). Even Ruben Dias tried a cross shot, but Dani Carvajal cleared the ball over his goal (70th). Finally, it was this same Carvajal who distilled a good cross for the incoming Nico Williams, who skillfully saved his head to offer the winning goal to Morata alone against the goal (1-0, 88th). Only offensive in the last twenty minutes, La Roja managed to crack the Portuguese concrete wall in the dying minutes of the game. Finalist out of the competition, Spain is getting closer to a major trophy expected for ten years.