Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portuguese national team miss out on the Nations League final tournament. Spain stole the group victory from the football legend’s team in a direct duel. The hit in luck falls just before the kick-off.
With their first victory in Portugal in 19 years, Germany’s World Cup opponents Spain still made it into the final tournament of the Nations League. A late goal by Alvaro Morata (88th) saw Furia Roja beat veteran star Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. 1-0 (0-0) in Braga and pushed the Portuguese off the top of the table in Group A2. European champions Italy, the Netherlands and runner-up Croatia had already qualified for next year’s Final Four tournament.
The hosts’ three best chances to take the lead went to 37-year-old Ronaldo, who missed twice and hesitated too long once in front of goal (48’/72’/90′). The Spaniards, the German national team’s second opponent in the preliminary round in Qatar on November 27th, surprisingly lost 2-1 to Switzerland on Saturday and lost their lead in the table. In the second half, coach Luis Enrique’s team played much more purposefully thanks to the youngsters Gavi, Pedri (both FC Barcelona), Yeremi Pino (FC Villarreal) and Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao) who came on as substitutes and earned their first success in the final stages Portugal since 2003.
Switzerland made the league perfect with a 2: 1 (2: 1) against the Czech Republic. Remo Freuler (29th) and former Bundesliga striker Breel Embolo (30th) scored for the Swiss within 61 seconds. Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick (45th) shortened for the Czechs, who were relegated to the B class as the bottom of the table. They accompany Austria, England and Wales. Goalkeeper Yann Sommer from Borussia Mönchengladbach fended off a penalty kick from Tomas Soucek (61′).
The promotion to the A-League was completed on the last day by Serbia and Scotland. World Cup participant Serbia prevailed 2-0 (1-0) in Norway and thus secured first place in Group B4, former Dortmund player Erling Haaland went away empty-handed. Dusan Vlahovic (42nd) and Aleksandar Mitrovic (54th) scored the goals for the Serbs. A 0-0 draw against Ukraine in Kraków was enough for the Scots to maintain their lead in Group B1. Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel had previously made it into the highest class. Armenia and Sweden were relegated to the C-League, following Romania. Former European champions Greece, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Georgia replace the three relegated teams and the Russian national team, which was suspended because of the war of aggression against Ukraine.
